Hail Cyrus
by SyndicateALPHA
Summary: Part II in the Syndicate Trilogy. With the death of Azure, willpower for future generations is fading. Now, it's up to Syndicate to save humanity from becoming responding statues. Unfortunately, Cyrus is still alive, Syndicate is forced into unfamiliar territory, and has to deal with Team Aqua. Who will die, and who will live in this struggle for freedom?
1. Last Minute Preperations

Dawn told me not to go, Trent couldn't care less where I went, and I think Professor Rowan didn't even know, too busy with whatever it is he's doing. I headed to the docks, but a ticket to Hoenn was too expensive. I could surf there, but I could only take one Pokemon with me.

"Jendoa, let's go. We're going on an adventure."

"Yessir." the Empoleon replied.

"Let's say our goodbyes. I promise I'll be back. Find Dawn in Jubilife. Now, where were we... Yes, right."

"Naomi," I walked up to my Roserade. "You've brought me so far in my journey, and it won't end now. I'm not sure where I'll be without you."

"Luna," I walked to my Clefable. "I've given you the moves you need to obliterate your foes. You're cute, you're powerful, you will likely only stop once you run out of PP." She blushed.

"Shade," I walked to my Weavile. "You're a very strong species, a very fierce one too. I've given you the moves to make you a huge threat. Now, you must use them."

"Soulkrai," I walked to my Lucario. "You're like Shade. Very, very high potential, but you haven't been able to show it. You'll be a great team member once I return.

"Maverick," I walked to my Crobat. "You've been one of the oldest members of the team. You're also the least leveled, but your extreme speeds and confusion ability makes you an irreplaceable team member."

"Azure..." I looked into the skies, for my Azelf. "Thank you."

"That wraps it up, now, we've got to get going. Goodbye." I got on Jendoa, who, in turn, was in the water, and sailed off into the horizon.


	2. Azure's Favor

I wasn't halfway through my journey until I found Cressa on a boat. I climbed up, and told Jendoa to head back with the others.

"I was just headed to Kalos. It's the just the next stop." She said.

"I'm going to Hoenn." I say as I shake water out of my hair.

"That's nice, but I thought I could have a journey by myself.

"Ooh. I'd like to hear about it when you get back."

"It's fine, but I won't mind."

Eventually, I reached Hoenn. I said goodbye to Cressa, and found myself promptly thrown into a truck, and driving on. I kept riding, watching the environment. Azurill jumped, a family of Aron, it was nature in it's most simplistic form. The driver asks my similar questions Rowan asked when we met, including my gender. I didn't stutter my name, so it went better, but still a bit creepy. He told me we were headed to Littleroot Town, and said something rather surprising.

"So you're THAT Syndicate, the one who's moving to where I live."

"Well, I still enjoy living in my old place in Sinnoh, but unless you're Professor Birch, I -" the driver's shilhouette was gone. I was alone in the truck, so I promptly left. Looking up, I saw a blue figure leaving a jetstream. It wasn't a jet, so what could it be?

I went looking for Birch first, but then I found a TV with a Gym Leader being interviewed. I decided to stay. If you want to beat your enemies, start by knowing them.

"Yes, sir, do you have any family?", the interviewer asked

"Let's see, I was married twice, once to a woman named Patricia, then and we had a girl named Cressa, but Patricia died. Then there was Serenity, and there was a boy named Syndicate, but they left me." Norman, the Gym Leader happily answered.

So, I'm Cressa's step-brother now, and my father is... not dead? I'll have to look into that. I left the TV, which was 20% off, but I'm fine myself. I found his lab, ready to speak with him, but his assistant told me he wasn't present.

The man said he was to the north of here, so I went there. I saw a house, and decided to visit on the way. I found a woman with an apron on saying welcome to me.

"We have a daughter about the same age as you."

"Really?" New friends are nice, I guess.

"She has been so excited about making a new friend. She'll be upstairs."

"That's for the kind offer." I went upstairs. I saw a girl with a red bandana reading and packing at her desk.

"Pokemon fully restored, items all ready, and -" She looking in my direction. "Huh?!" she exclaimed. "Who... are you?"

"I am Syndicate," I said. "Trainer and future champion of Sinnoh."

"Ooh, Sinnoh! Isn't that northwest of here?"

"I was sure I went southwest, or was it weast? I might as well have spun in a large circle four times and dug straight downwards."

"Well, I'm May! Glad to meet you!" She introduced herself. "I...I actually have this dream of becoming friends with Pokemon all over the world. And then when Dad- oh, I mean Professor Birch told me you were coming here, Syndicate... Well, I was hoping you would be nice and we could be friends."

"Promise not to kill anyone, and we can be friends, all right?"

"heh, b-but who am I kidding? th-that's Just silly, isn't it?" I let her add everything up. "I've just met you, right? So, what am I talking about?" She blushed. "hee hee..." Well, that was odd of her.

"Oh no! I forgot!" May exclaimed. "I was suppoed to help dad catch Pokemon!"

"I could come with you."

"Sure, just... wha!" and she dashed out. I headed after her, but she was too fast for me to catch up with. I had to infer where she actually went. My first guess was where my intended goal was before the house. I heard a screaming. Did she remember to say yes to my promise to NOT kill anyone? It was just a Poochyena.

"H-help me!" a call was heard. A fat man in a lab coat was running in circles, being chased by a Poochyena. "Halloo! You over there! Please! Help me out!" He was definitely afraid, but he was certainly younger than Rowan, so maybe he'd have a better plan than running in circles.

"In my bag!" He said. "There are some Pokeballs!" I searched through it.

"Aeuuu..." I was being decisive. "Torchic, no. Mudkip, no, ah! Treecko!" He looked cool.

"Yeah! Use Absorb!" I told Treecko. The fun was just beginning, and I haven't even scratched the surface of this 10 layered cake of fun.


	3. Deoxys

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" Professor Birch said. "You saved my hide. Thanks a lot!" Long pause. "Oh? You're Norman's boy, Syndicate."

"I learned that today." I whispered. Nobody heard.

"This isn't the place for a chat, though. Come along to my lab." I headed to the lab with him.

Once there, he spoke again. "To say thanks for rescuing me, you can keep that Pokemon from earlier. What do you want to call him?"

"There is no Treecko" Treecko spoke to me, but it was just a small growl to Birch. "There is only Blaise"

"Blaise" I told Birch.

"Nice name. You can find my girl, May, surveying Pokemon for me on Route 103."

"Before I leave, Professor," I said. "Azelf told me that you can help me."

"Azelf?" He looked like he was looking back at his past. "What about her?"

"She's dead, and without her, future generations will lose their willpower.

"Ah, yes." He shook his head. "With Azelf dead, there must be a substitute for her power."

"A substitute?" I took a small step backwards.

"Yes, a substitute. The most effective one is a crystal on an alien Pokemon."

"Alien? I've sailed from here to there, I'm sorry.

"SPACE Alien."

"What? How many Pokemon came from space?"

"Just one, Syndicate." He led me to his big computer.

"Behold, Deoxys." It was a picture of an odd, red creature with red and blue arms, and had a red line streak across it's blue face.

"Why is the picture so... special?"

"Our photographer was out, looking for Pokemon. He was just about to send a picture of the Mythical Mew to Professor Oak before he was savagely attacked by this, dubbed Deoxys. Only his camera was ever found."

"What's the substitute?" Deoxys itself was definitely not the substitute by itself.

"His chest. There is a power crystal that allows Deoxys to do things freely. Think of it as a section of his brain. When scientists created Mewtwo, they played with the part of the brain that does things similar to Deoxys's crystal. Mewtwo blew up everything. We think that Deoxys won't go on a rampage with the crystal removed. Rather, it will sit there until it dies.

"How do you know these things?"

"I'm the Pokemon Professor, we need to know these things.

Oh, fine.


	4. May's Intrigue

I decided to train a bit and head to Oldale Town. Once there, I healed up. I found a delivery girl, and spoke with her.

"Yes, I have a package for Syndicate, from, errm, creh, cray, crehssay, cressi..."

I waited.

and waited

and waited

and waited

and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited

No, seriously, this went on for fifteen minutes.

Once she found a name that worked for her, she went with it. I was sitting on the couch by now.

"I have a package for Syndicate, from Crissa," Close enough. "She said she found it while fishing and found it. Inside the box was a Pokeball. Inside the Pokeball was a Shiny Beldum. How nice of her. I walked outside the Pokemon Center to give him a nickname.

"I dub thee Sir Nikolai." Nikolai. I guess that works.

I went north, and found May at the end of the path. Eager to speak, I ran up to her.

"Let's see, I found this Pokemon on Route 103... and this one... and this one, too..." May looked at a puddle. Surprised to see me, she got the path going. "Oh! Hey, Syn! What's that?"

"It's a Treecko. You're father gave it too me." I answered

"Well then, why don't have a quick battle?"

"You're on."

"Let's do this!" She says, sending out a Torchic.

"Go, Blaise!" I say. "Use Leer!"

"Torchic! Go for a Scratch!" 20/24 HP for Blaise.

"Use a Pound!"

"Scratch it again!" The turn's event's occurred again. With 12/24 HP, Blaise defeated May.

"Wow! That's great! Syndicate, you're pretty good!"

"Please don't rub it in."

"Oh, ok. See ya!" She headed to the lab, with me behind.

Once there, I spoke with Birch.

"So, I hear you beat May on your first try, which is amazing." He gets quiet. "Mm-hmm! I think that settles it! I ordered this Pokedex for my research, but I think you should take it." That's nice, because I don't exactly have a National Dex from Sinnoh. After saying bye, I headed out. I caught a rather special Poochyena named Yen, for unclear reasons.


	5. Father Dearest

I reached Petalburg, about ready for the gym battle, but I decided to explore the place first. It didn't take long before I ran across the gym. I saw Norman, or as I shall now refer to him as "Father", talking to a child.

"Not bad... It was a good battle." He said to the child.

"Th-thank you, sir!" The child said.

"Come back and challenge me again anytime. I'll be looking forward to seeing you and your Pokemon again when you're a bit stronger."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir! I'm gonna go special training and challenge this Gym again! Thank you for the battle, Mr. Norman." The child left.

"Hm?" Father said as he looked my way. "Why, if it isn't Syndicate!"

"Then you wouldn't exist."

"Oh, you, with your sense of humor. Let's talk in the gym." We went inside.

"Listen to me, father. Why were we separated? What was my mother and I supposed to be doing in Sinnoh while you were in Hoenn?" I asked him as soon as the doors closed behind us."

"You don't know, do you?" He sighs. "It was thirteen years when it happened, and you were getting ready to head to Preschool a year before most kids do. I went home, and I..." He stopped, a tear going down his eyes. "Your sister, Zinnia, was playing with the knives when I was making her and you cereal. I could have..." The dam broke. "I could have s-saved h-her, S-syn! B-but," He wiped the tears away, breathing a large breath. "A knife hit her in the chest, and your mother blamed her death on me. She took everything except for the Gym, which is only half of my most valuable possessions."

"You... you should talk to her." I felt sad, but not as much as Father did. All I remembered was her name, Zinnia and overhearing one of my parents' conversations debating her sanity levels.

"Well, I will tell you this, that -" Whatever he was going to say, he never said it. I heard the child's voice again.

"Um... E-excuse me..." the child said. "I...I'd like to get a Pokemon, please." It was the same, tortured tone, but this was a different person.

"Hm? Aren't you..." Father said. "You're Wally, right?"

"Y-yes... I'm supposed to go stay with my relatives in Verdanturf Town for awhile, but I though I might be lonely by myself, so I wanted to bring a Pokemon with me, but I've never caught one myself..."

"Mm-hmm. I see. Syndicate! You heard all that, right?"

"Huh, wha?" I was sitting in the corner, trying to figure out why Red doesn't display any color in the Game Boy, not even red.

"You go with Wally, and make sure he safely catches a Pokemon."

"But why can't you go?"

"I'm 'busy'. Here, Wally." He gave him a Zigzagoon.

"Oh, wow..." Wally said. He also gave him a Pokeball. We went out, and he caught a Ralts, but he did a fine enough job catching one... with green hair... in his robe pajamas... That's kind of how it goes in the world: you're greatest achievements were supposed to be done in your Pjs.


	6. Roxanne

Returning to the Gym for Wally was not a chore. He returned Father's Zigzagoon, and I went my merry way. I found the Petalburg Woods and went inside. Let's just have a quick team review.

Blaise, Treecko, level 12, no item.

Moves: Pound, Leer, Absorb, Quick Attack

Nikolai, Beldum, level 10, Metagrossite

Moves: Hold Back, Iron Head, Zen Headbutt, Iron Defense

oh.

Following the route, I caught a Slakoth, "Mojo Jojo", and a Shroomish, "Grassassin" I also found a scientist, asking if there were any Shroomishes around here.

"Yeah there's..." I stopped. A man in a pirate suit ambushed me.

"Hand me those Devon products!" The man said to the scientist.

"You're going to have to go through me, first!" We battled, and we battled a short battle, for the man put up no fight.

"This isn't the last you've heard of Team Aqua, kid! You're lucky I'm busy with a project at Rustboro City!"

"I'm headed there..." I muttered. The man was long gone.

"Oh!" The scientist said. "Thanks for saving me!" He gave me an experience share and a healing up for my team.

"Thanks, but I need to go follow him." I replied. I continued through the woods, but I heard a sound behind me. I felt as if I were, followed. I looked behind me, but nothing was there.

I got out of the woods and found a flower shop. In short, I didn't get much besides free berries and gardening equipment, which I may or may not deal with later.

I took the road forward, only to find a bridge. There were two kids on the bridge, awaiting a double battle.

Once at Rustboro, I decided to go exploring. Notable places include the man in the one apartment who gave me the HM for Cut, An Ace Trainer who gave me an "Ace Item", or a simple float stone, which plays with Pokemon's weights, a kid with a Premier Ball, The Gym, generic Pokeplaces (which is how I will refer to the Pokemart and Pokecenter as a meaning combo from now on), and Devon Corporation itself.

This gym was home to the first gym leader of Hoenn. Of course, if I wanted to become Sinnoh Champion, I might as well gain a nice reputation in Hoenn. News of a new champion spreads quickly, even though Hoenn isn't the one I want to be the primary champion of. Maybe I'll challenge Cressa, and she'll take the title.

"Hello." Roxanne greets me as soon as I enter the gym. "You must be a new challenger."

"Yes, I am." I answer.

"Roxanne here. Roxanne became a gym leader so that Roxanne may apply in battle all Roxanne's learned at the Trainers' School. Please, take up Roxanne's challenge."

"I will. You shall not be disappointed." She went to the back of the room. Her gimmick was a maze-like area with trainers scattered around, none being actually required. I led with Mojo Jojo to get a yawn off, putting Roxanne's lead to sleep.

"Just as Roxanne expected..." She said. "Roxxane knew you and your Pokemon would be able to get this far." I looked behind me. What a perilous journey of taking about 60 steps, oh woe is me. "Now, will you kindly demonstrate how you battle with your Pokemon?"

"Yes, ma'am, I will be ready to knock that badge out of your pocket." First gym battle, and we're not even ten chapters in.

"Hit Roxanne with your best shot!" I sent out Mojo Jojo, with her going with Geodude. A swift hit took out Mojo. Maybe I should've trained more.

"Go, Blaise!" I say. "Use Mega Drain!" Sturdy kept Geodude alive. Just 1 HP. "Quick Attack!"

"Geodude!" Roxanne said. "Take this!" A healing potion.

"Use Mega Drain again!" Gone was Geodude, and Blaise healed quite well from a Rock Tomb. Out comes Nosepass.

"Mega Drain!" Of course, the thing lived, but it did about a third of damage. I thought it'd just be sturdy. The turn pretty much repeated another two times. She gave me the TM, the badge, and some quick admiration of my skill. As soon as I exited the Gym, I saw a Team Aqua Grunt run across the road.

"OUT OF MY WAY! MOVE IT!" He screamed. He went from Devon Corps. to the North-eastern road. A scientist from Devon came out shortly after.

"Wait! Pleeeaaase!" The Scientist cried. "Don't take those parts!" The scientist walked to his area. I headed straight to Devon Corps, but only after a quick trip to the Pokemon Center. Devon Corps was a very, very big area, and rather fancy. You can just look it up and be jealous.

I looked for people who said anything somewhat important, but all I got was "those who know about the energy are... No! Nothing! Nothing, really! Uhahaheh." and "I'm sorry, only authorized personal can enter this area. Maybe if I can go chase the villain, I can see what his hair color is again.

Somehow, I caught up with the scientist.

"Oh, you there!" He said. "You're that trainer who helped me in Petalburg Woods!"

"I guess it must've been a hard day for you."

"Yeah, well I'm going to really need those Devon Parts back! If I don't..."

"I'll get them for you. Stay here."


	7. Devon Corporation

Of course, I had the opportunity to get more Pokemon. Jeffery the Nincada and Anita the Skitty, welcome. Blaise also evolved. See, like Jendoa, Blaise is the leader, but Blaise has a personality besides Jendoa, who is based on honor. Blaise, is cool and collected. Must I say more?

I saw a cave, and swiftly entered, but I saw a man looking sadly at it.

"Ohhh, what am I to do?" He said. "We were just out on our walk, Peeko and I, when we were attacked by an odd thug, and the scoundrel made off with my darling Peeko!" He looked into the cave again. "Where are yooouuu?! Peeeeeeko!" I guess I'm the only one who can bother to stop the goons.

Entering the cave was even easier than making toast, and I saw the goon right away.

"Hey!" I greeted him.. Time to save Peeko the Wingull.

"Oh! This hostage turned out to be worthless! And to this I made a getaway into this tunnel to nowhere! You! You're here to battle me! Really?" We fought, to be expected. He sent out a Poochyena, but a quick jab in it's chest with a Fury Cutter from Blaise easily took it out.

"Ugh! Uhhn ugh!" The grunt said. "Is this the end of my evil deeds?! This... this is not right... The boss told me this would be a slick and easy job to pull..."

"Oh, why am I not surprised. I bet you're simply incapable of the job."

"Tch! If you want the Devon parts so badly, then just take them!" and he ran off. The man walked into the cave, reunited with Peeko, and gave me an introduction.

"They call me Mr. Briney, and you are...?"

"Syndicate, sir."

"Then I sincerely thank you, Syndicate. If there's anything I can do to help you in turn, don't hesitate to tell me." Anything at all... hm...

"No, thank you. I don't need anything right now, I'm just going to go my merry way. Maybe later, okay?"

"Okay. I'll be at my cottage by the sea near Petalburg Woods. Come, Peeko! High time we're under way to home!"

"Pikwee!" Peeko happily said. My first option was to head deeper into the cave. This is exactly what I did, but rocks were in the way. Pesky things.

"Away I goooo..." I saw a man in a karate outfit facing me. He said something about digging again since the goon left. I explored the rest house his large stature blocked the way earlier. All I got were stories about the success of the tunnels and whatnot. I headed backed to Devon Corps. Inside, the scientist from earlier lead me to the top floor of the building, which most certainly is higher than floor four.

"Our president's office is on this floor. I can't tell you how grateful I am for what you've done for this company."

"I like Team Aqua as much as you do, now what does your boss want?"

"He'll tell you. Follow me, okay?" Taking me across the hallway, the desk had many rocks around the area in glass cases.

"I'm Mr. Stone, the president of Devon Corporation." The man said. I took a seat at the chair in front of his desk. "I heard just now how we have quite a bit to thank you for, because you helped out my staff not once, but twice!"

"Uh-huh." I replied, my chin resting on my arm, resting vertically against my knee.

"There's a favor I'd like to ask you, now I want you to know I'm a president you can trust."

"You have a good reputation," I lowered my arm, sitting straight back up. "so I'll listen."

"I need you to deliver this letter to a man named Steven. He should be in Dewford Town."

"Isn't that where Big Service got it's name?"

"Yes, my boy. Yes, it is." He shook his head at nothing in particular. He handed me the letter.

"You'll need to cross the sea to reach Dewford, but I think Mr. Briney can help you there." Paying his debt so quickly? It was around two in the afternoon and now it's...

...I checked my watch...

Sundown, 7 in the evening. Huh.

I'd better make haste. We can't disturb the wereyenas, now can we? Actually, the world is even better off without them.


	8. Benjamin's Warning

For those uneducated in the ways of lycanthropy, allow me to read an excerpt of a book I read.

"Lycanthropy is age based, the bigger the person, the bigger the form."

Actually, now that I think about it, that's pretty obvious, but I do want to point out that Poochyenas and Mightyenas both count for this definition.

To keep my sanity in check, I ran off to see Mr. Briney as soon as possible. Wereyenas can't open doors.

After a few minutes of running, I made it to his house. Trying to talk to him was a bit of a chore. No, it wasn't because I was reluctant, it was because he as so busy playing with Peeko, I couldn't really do anything to get his attention.

"Oh, if it ain't Syndicate!" He said once he noticed me.

"Mind helping me to Dewford?"

"Certainly, that would be no problem at all." And we set sail. We said goodbye once we left, and I went looking for Steven. Somehow, I found myself reunited with Benjamin.

"Wait, you came all this way, and for what?"

"I came to deliver a message."

"What? From who?"

"Your mother, Syndicate. She left a note at your house and said that she'd be back in two to four days, but it's been a month. I came here to make you realize how dire a situation this is, and to get you to hurry up. I think Cyrus is onto us. Me and Maverick, we're..."

"Start from the beginning, please." I told him.

"Don't let this take too long." Blaise requested. I ignored him.

"Well, me and Maverick, we were just minding our own businesses. Naomi said she needed to enjoy the aromas of the flowered to rejuvenate herself, but she didn't come back. Jendoa said that he was going to go look for her, and nobody was to come looking for him, but Soulkrai 'felt safe with him', so Jendoa was stuck with the child. Those two never returned either. Maverick said that she had to look for this, but she told us that she will keep her guard up. Once returned, she said that strange Mightyenas attacked her. She lost one of her wings, but besides that she was fine. I took up leadership, for my intellectual power will allow me to create complex plans to lead us to victory. I told Shade to look after Maverick while I rounded up the others to the PC, but the only one left was a Pikachu and a Bidoof. I returned, and Shade said that Maverick wouldn't make it. I came here to tell you this so you will not only not miss your friend's funeral, but also because with everyone besides those two gone, friendship problems are the least of our worries."

"I... E-eternal... Cyrus, of course." I ran off to find Steven. I saw a cave, because that's the best place to look for someone. Unsurprisingly, nobody was there, so I went to the gym instead.


	9. Brawly

The gimmick here was simple: gauntlet. Fight all the trainers in a straight line, win, done. Of course, It wasn't all. buttons turned on a light in another room, leaving it on for as long as you stood there. This happened three times. Fight, button, memorize, adventure, until it was time to fight him.

"Well, well well." I said. I threw Blaise's Pokeball to the ground, releasing him. "It's about time we met."

"Huah!" He was just finishing his... crutches? "Heh. I'm Brawly. I've been churned in through the rough waves of these parts, and I've grown tough using he cave at the outskirts of this town as my training ground, as well as using the equipment in this Gym."

"Uhm..." I was counting. Seven, eight, nine, twelve, no, there must be at least twenty-one. "Which one are you using? I see at least three treadmills in this room alone, but no matter. Let's begin."

"Let me see what you're made of!"

He sent out Machop, and I went with Blaise.

"Use Fury Cutter!" The Machop went with Bulk-up. So much for that.

"Use Mega Drain!" It bulked up again.

"Quick Attack, now!" The Super Potion was used, fully healing it. I went for Mega Drain again. It went for Karate Chop, doing over half.

"Quick Attack! Hurry!" Gone, but it wasn't over. It never is. Makuhita was ready. I stayed with him.

"Heal up with Mega Drain!" It was good, but not enough. A second one was, of course.

"Okay, you've got me. Take the Gym Badge!" Brawly said. Ooh... shiny...

"Here's the TM for Bulk Up, while your here. You've more than proven your worth for it. Brawly told me about the cave north from where he was, and that his buddy Steven was there. Well, that's... interesting. I healed up and went to go find him.


	10. Steven, Stone Cold Archeologist

I snuck my way back into the cave. I couldn't afford to be interrupted by Zubats. That would kill the mood of mysteriousness. I saw a section of the cave with oldish pictures and a cave hole. Perhaps Steven would be in there. Inside, was a wider area with steps that led rather high, There, I saw a man in a black suit, red tie, silver cuffs, and cyan hair, staring at ancient pictures, perhaps foretelling the events of an epic rivalry gone horrible wrong. One with a large fish-like creature and another of a large, salamander-like creature on two legs.

"...Mm-hmm." The man said. "So, in the ancient world, their primal forms once held this much power...? The super-ancient Pokemon... what terrible strength... Hmm. It seems my questions will not be answered today."

"Yes... Are you Steven?" I asked.

"Hm?" He said. He turned around. "You are...?"

"Syndicate."

"Ah, I see. It's a pleasure. My apologies, I am, in fact, Steven. I'm interested in rare stones, so I travel here and there. Today, my journey, brought me here, but what about you?"

"This letter."

"Oh? Why., thank you..."

"No problem." I handed it to him.

"It must have been some trouble to track me down. I suppose I must repay you in some way. Let me see..." He was thinking long and hard.

"I'm give you this TM. It contains my favorite move, Steel Wing."

"Oh, well thank you." I didn't need it, but at least he was grateful.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you feel anything in particular when you look up at this wall?"

"I don't have my emotions jumping here and there, but this wall feels like it's exerting power and... rage..."

"...Yes... Good luck to you, I must be going now." he left. I caught an Abra called Psi, headed back to Mr. Briney, and he said that I had business with a guy named Stern in Slateport City, which he let me ride with him for.

"We've made land!" Mr. Briney said when we arrived. "I suppose you're off to visit Captain Stern and deliver those Devon Parts?"

"You'd suppose correct." I answered, fleeing to find Stern.


	11. Aqua's Reason

Rather than landing in Slateport, I was sent to some generic route, but I'd be fine. I did reach Slateport in due time. The thing that caught my eye first was Slateport Market. I bought a... um.. It was interesting, and I was intrigued by what they sold. TMs, Incenses, Proteins, the works. The second thing I noticed is the rather tiny lighthouse. I, myself, was probably a third of it's entirety. The third thing was the Pokemon Fan Club, which had a Furfrou groomer and TV Reporter. She asked why I liked Blaise, and I answered "We're similar in most ways."

It was the club leader I wanted to talk to last.

He said nothing interesting.

The fourth thing I noticed was the contest hall. I couldn't do anything without a pass, so I kept looking. Somehow, from sheer luck, I found a rather curious stone. I spoke with Cressa on the phone, and said she'd be right over. Maybe Kalos seems to know about these things.

"I... uh..." She looked at her Pokeballs.

"Caught some? Who's with you?" I asked.

"Uxie and Mesprit." She said. "Uxie says it's an Alakazite."

"Ah... wha?"

"It's a stone that can Mega Evolve Alakazam."

"Mega... evolve?"

"It's power beyond the final evolution. Just think a Tyranitar, but much stronger."

"They're strong enough..."

"The curious thing is, is that Uxie herself has no clue where they come from". Uxie busted from her pokeball.

"For your information, facts I have not looked at yet is fading, and I can't help the fact that SOMETHING is clouding up my knowledge!"

"Sister," Mesprit escaped. "Surely you can't mistreat someone such as him. He's with Azelf. Surely, you must understand."

"Az-azelf? Where is he?"

"Dead, likely faded into the earth." The two were shocked, and I didn't even have a clue what Cressa was doing, but I think she was dancing. "I can revive her, but I'm going to need a Deoxys' chest crystal, and give it to her remains, wherever they are."

"Syndicate, did you...?" Mesprit asked.

"No, I didn't do it. It was Trent's fault, but it'll be fine in the end. Go do whatever."

"Oh, oh ok." Uxie said. "Yeah sure, let's just waltz away while our..." Cressa said. She wanted to continue trying to get to Kalos, so they left.

I headed to the docks to find Stern, but nobody was there. I then tried his house and I saw a man there.

"Umm," The man said, looking at a map behind a desk. "If this goes here, and that goes... then where -"

"This is yours now." I walked up to the desk. Surely, this must be Captain Stern

"Oh, sorry." The man said. "I'm Dock." I put away the Devon parts. "I'm Stern's ship designer. He should be in the Oceanic Museum." I headed there.

Once there, I had to...

"Pay a 50 dollar fee. We can't run this without funds." I handed over the money to the cashier. The first thing I noticed was the artifacts. The second thing was the abundance of Team Aqua members. I talked to all of them, but only one peaked my interest.

"Aieee! I was... What're you doing here?" one grunt said.

"Ever get your Clefairy back?" I asked him.

"Syndicate?" He asked.

"Why are you with them?"

"I..." he whispered. "It's Cyrus. He forced the Team Galactic members to hide in the shadows and cover of Team Aqua. Here, take this." He handed me a business card of sorts. Apparently, his name was Arron.

Arron, AKA Derpface, went on. "If you need any information, I can offer it. I don't want the boss to get suspicious, so call me only from 8PM to 8AM, but don't call from 11PM to 1AM, and unmentioned times."

"This leaves me with 8PM, 9PM, 10PM, 2AM, 3AM, 4AM, 5AM, 6AM, 7AM, and 8AM." I told him.

"That's my free time. Between 11 and 1, there may be a random assault. I need to go now." he ran off. Thanks.

I headed upstairs, and found Captain Stern.

"You'll need these." I handed him the Devon Parts, but Team Aqua members, two, ambushed us."

"Hold up a moment, we'll be taking those." The first grunt said.

"You'll have to get through me!"

"Oh," the second grunt said. "Have we got ourselves a hero. I was able to effortlessly take out the first one, and the second one said he was the 27th strongest Team Aqua member. He was tougher than his friend, but not by much.

"Is your group small in numbers or competence?" I asked, but I heard stomping in the back. No time to celebrate.

"Oh man! It's the boss! If he finds out we didn't get the parts," The first grunt said.

The second grunt continued with, "We're in for it!" It was him, leader of Team Aqua.

"I came to see what was taking so long, and you simps are getting beat by him?" The leader laughed. He looked at me. "The name's Archie. The lot you see before you is my group, Team Aqua."

"I can tell." I think I saw the first grunt from before picking his nose, and the second grunt from earlier yelling at him for being such an idiot.

"So, tell me boyo, do you know that Pokemon, people, and all life in this world depend on the sea for life? That's right. The sea is an irreplaceable treasure for every living thing on this planet, but with our selfish extravagances, humanity dirties the great ocean, destroying this source of all life..." He closed his eyes with much force. "Day by day, we're all destroying our most precious resource! If we humans suffer from our actions, maybe we'll get what we deserve, but what about those Pokemon?"

"They die." Archie's eyes opened.

"Yes, we are creating a world in which innocent Pokemon suffer as a result of our actions, and that's something I cant forgive!" He paused, then laughed again. "Nevermind you. I'll withdraw for now and leave you be, but understand this. If you get in my away again, you won't walk away unscathed." He looked away from me. "We're moving out, lads!"

I gave the package to Stern. "Thank you. Now I can continue my expedition!"

"You're welcome." I took the North Path from Slateport, but I found rather ridiculously fabulous girl with an Altaria outside of the contest place.

"Hiiiiii, ev-er-y-bo-dy!" She said. "Lisia here! Me and my Altaria, Ali, have come to Slateport City's Contest Spectacular Hall for a bit of FUN!" She sounded rather obnoxious. "Well, watch me as I dive right in again today!" Screams from the crowd around her.

"Yeaaahhhh!"

"Dazzling, dizzying, doldrums defying!" Lisia said. Doldrums? The crowd repeated her. Long story short, she held some contest, which is essentially giving some random trainer a contest pass. Surprisingly, she picked me.

"You there! Watching me with that baffled expression on your face! Hi!"

"What do you want?"

"You get to join in a contest."

"Do I have to?" She looked at me, with fire in her eyes, combined with a demonic "yes", but then she became pop star... ish.

This is the trainer I'm going to scout today, and his name is..."

"Syndicate."

"When I took a good look, I could easily see that Syn is a powerful trainer."

"You don't exactly even have to take a good look."

"Syn," she talked to me. "You can now enjoy contests here." She gave me a contest pass an a "Pokeblock Kit".

"This is Syndicate's new story, this chapter should be called... 'A Sudden Encounter! Miraculous Contest Scouting!' That's what I'd call it! See you all next time!" Applause and leaving.


	12. The Trick Master

I didn't care much for Contests, so I collected the cosplay Pikachu and left. After a complete abundance of training, I continued my journey, heading north towards Mauville City. Some Team Aqua members decided to have a little fun blocking the path.

"Let's keep going through Route 110 and head for Mt. Chimney!", said one grunt. She was part of a five group team, with four members looking at the fifth member.

"Wow." The grunt next to her said. "That's pretty far." and everyone agreed with him. The fifth member spoke up.

"Why don't we take a rest in Mauville City, it's on the way." The fifth member said.

"Great idea!" said the easternmost grunt. Her friend all the way to the west was the only one who didn't speak yet, and he remained a bit of a mystery. He was probably Arron for all I knew. I followed them, because I've heard a lot about Mauville during my three day stay at Slateport. Of course, I wasn't just going to expect to waltz right into a new town without expecting some challengers, but I managed.

I found a "Trick House", and went inside. I felt as if I was being watched, but this is the trick house. It shouldn't be anything generic. I snuck around a bit. If something were to kill me or someone with me, I'll be expecting it, and maybe even lower the risk factor. I found a scroll in the front of the room, and I also found a rather thin, balding man under the central table, and gives me a quick speech.

"Behold! For I am the greatest living mystery of a man in all of Hoenn! They call me..." I widened my eyes. "The Trick Master!" My eyes went to normal size and rolled them. "Wahahaha! Glad to meet you! You've come to challenge my trick house? Well, consider your challenge accepted! Enter through the scroll there, and let your challenge commence! I'll be waiting in the back!" He spun clock-wise quickly three times and flew threw the ceiling. Trick or not, this is just plain stupid.

"Heh. We've got this Blaise." I said. "He won't know what hit him." I entered through the scroll

My first challenge was to find my way around some forested area. There was an obvious shortcut, but that's just no fun. Plus, I get free stuff if I take the long way! My loot included a Lava Cookie, another Lava Cookie, Jeffery's evolving, a scroll with a secret code on it, and a surprise house guest.

"Who... are you?" It didn't speak. It was a Shedinja. Mind you, it never did speak. I called him "Jimmy", for his similarities to Jeffery. I headed into the next room, with the Trick Master standing on a cushion in front of a table, with a TV north of it, and an item next to said TV.

"Ai!" He said. "You've made it this far?"

"It wasn't hard..." I looked behind me and saw the forest on fire. "See? Simple!"

"You're sharp, alright." He followed this by muttering 'it took me all night to plant those trees...' He thought I didn't hear him, which I clearly didn't, but Jeffery is very sensitive in the body, hearing. sight, pretty much everything besides... yeah that's it. He's very powerful, but highly fragile. "Well, you've earned this as a reward!" The Trick Master continued. I got a TM for Taunt! Powerful!

"Well, what now?"

"You continue! The tricks are not over yet!" He flew off again.

I went ahead, but not before I grabbed the item by the TV. It's an expert belt, boosting super effective damage. I took the path behind the man, but somehow, it took me to a room similar to the one I entered in. I continued this, but it was more or less the same, so I won't bore you with the details. Not that it mattered, anyway. I couldn't challenge for my lack of possession of Rock Smash. I continued down the path under cycling road. Nothing to say besides it being an incredibly short mass of land. Think of a thin river, but the river is the land, and the not river parts are the seas.

One there, I reached a mall-like area, with Wally in the middle talking to some guy.

"Hey!" I say as I run. "Wally!" They went to challenge the Gym. Talking to someone long-distance in a mall is fruitless anyway. I admit it, I did exploring to find interesting stuff. Some of the best things include a Rydel bike, the move Grass Pledge for Blaise, ect.

I went to fight the gym afterwards. Well, then.


	13. Wattson

I headed towards the gym, and what do you know? Wally was there, outside the gym. He was bickering with his father to say that he could handle himself in a battle against the Gym Leader, so he decided to battle me to prove his point. Unfortunately for the kid, his Ralts wasn't that well trained. This led to an easy kill on Jimmy's part. He said that his loss was okay, and that he could go back to Verdanturf Town, but he asked a simple question before he left.

"Could I call you...my r-riv-" He stuttered. "Ah, never mind! S-sorry! It was nothing! Please forget about it!"

"Oh, you forget it." I said. "You can be my rival. Your Ralts has potential, it just isn't there yet. I promise, that the last time we battle, it will be the best." He left, but he looked calmer now. Before he left, Wally's father gave me the HM for Rock Smash. Yay.

I went inside Wattson's gym, oblivious to any danger there that may or may not actually be there. The gimmick here was simple: switch electronic currents so that you may pass without gaining any fatal electric shocks. For you 8 year olds reading this for some reason: push buttons so that lightning will move and not kill you. Yep, that's good enough.

I used Blaise mainly for one, simple reason: grass apparently resists electricity. Oh, and he's really, really powerful.

There were three rooms, and, like Volkner's Gym, it gets harder, requiring more and more strategy, so you'll have to stay on your toes, or you'll be faced with a wound, and nobody wants that, especially if you're already being tortured with too many commas, Nine, to be exact, but it is not counting previous ones, so it's actually 12 commas in one sentence.

Getting to Wattson was anti climatic.

"Oh?" Wattson asked. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"I want to battle you." I say.

"WHAT? You say you've gotten past all my rigged doors?"

"Yes."

"Now, that is amusing!"

"The plans to reform Mauville are done for now. Making traps was always enjoyable for me. Heh. Then I, Wattson, shall electrify you!"

His speech was anti-climatic.

Blaise VS. Magnemite.

Blaise was paralyzed, but I didn't give up.

"Walk it off, and use Leaf Blade!" Magnemite went first, thanks to paralyzation, and used Volt Switch into Magneton, but Leaf Blade did nice damage, and Blaise used his amazing friendship connectivity with me to cure itself from paralyzation. Yes, really.

I pretty much just spammed Leaf Blade the whole time until...

"Wahahaha! Fine, I lost!" He handed me the Dynamo Badge and the TM for Volt Switch.

Victory against Wattson was, believe it or not, anti-climatic.


	14. Pure Syns

**NOTICE: THIS CHAPTER IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. IF YOU ARE EASILY SHOCKED, SKIP TO CHAPTER 15. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

Catching a new Pokemon was as important as air. Meet Xander, the male Ralts. Hopefully, I can get him a Dawnstone to get a Gallade.

I took the North path from Mauville so I could chase down Team Aqua at Mt. Chimney. Rocks blocked my path, but that wasn't going to stop me. What was was the abundance of trainers itching for some fool to walk up to them and force them to battle them.

I reached Mt. Chimney, and ran into May. Mind you, she has run into me before, but all she did was speak my mind and battle me once or twice the whole journey, but that doesn't matter. I need to know just one thing at the moment: what was Archie up to?

I saw a cave and headed inside, where I saw small geysers and red, cavepaths. It felt, lonely. A nice tone for an evil event, but that mood was swiftly taken by some Slugma, which I tried to catch. It ended up badly hurting Xander and burning Anita. I put Xander in the back to prevent any further messups. I actually found an exit for the cave, making it feel less useful, because it was my only path towards victory, and it meant little right now. I was in a rush, but I found a rather intriguing man staring at a tree.

"Mmm-mm. I can smell it. I can smell it right here..." The man said. "The scent of adventure!"

"Ooh!" I say to him. "Adventure! Can I come?"

"Yo! What can I do you for, hmm?" The man said.

"Let's start by dropping the accent, and your name."

"The name's Aarune. Put'er there." One out of two. Close enough. "Unova-born, and twenty five years old. Spent the last 11 years trying to find myself."

"Let's see, Sinnoh-born, I'll narrow my age down to 'between 14 and 20', and I spent the last 11 years trying to not die."

"Mostly, I've been trying to find where I really belong, with nature. Namely, with secret bases!"

"If you're going to show me the ropes, no need. I learned quite well enough in the Underground."

"Oh, ok. If ya see me aroun', just remember the name. Aarune!" and he left. I, went my merry way.

I kept going and found a rather snowy path, which I followed.

After some time following the path, I realized it wasn't snow, but volcanic ash. Yay... At the end of the path was an empty farmland, and May being important. She led me into a house. She said earlier that Professor Cozmo, some famous astrologist or something, was about to be visited by her, but he was kidnapped instead.

"He got abducted by some weird guys calling themselves Team something or other..." Dialog stuff, meet her by Meteor Falls, blah blah blah, enjoy exploring Fallarbor Town. There wasn't much to enjoy. I headed out, and met a fossil maniac and a move reminder. I also met the creator of Hoenn's PC Storage system, so that's cool. Then, out of the blue, Blaise evolved... again. A bright flash of light. Sceptile. I was very proud of myself for getting this far.

I found May in very little time. She was still chasing after them, but was slow enough to let me catch up. Huh. Meteor Falls was named appropriately. It was a rocky hill-like area with craters of varying sizes around the place. I went inside a cave, and what do you know, a waterfall. Hoenn has some real climate issues. Some running around eventually led to finding May, confronting a Team Aqua Grunt and some rather elegant looking Aqua female.

"Give it up!" May said. "Let the professor go!" Mind you, this was going to be an epic confrontation on top of a small, highly elevated rock with a waterfall in the background. Perfect for some final, epic battle... but that would mean...

This girl was different...

...She could be like, like Saturn...

...Or Mars...

...Or even Jupiter!

Yes...

She's a commander.

"Hahn?" The woman asked. "What's this? Who's this spoiled brat?"

"She is May." I walked up to the woman, slightly pushing May to the left of me with my shoulder. "I, am Syndicate, future champion of Sinnoh."

"Syndicate! You came!" May exclaimed. "We've got to save the professor... There are two of them, and two of us..."

"Well, isn't that sweet?" The woman said. "It's too bad neither of you will be alive to see tomorrow. Before you die, I'll let my name be the last thing you hear."

"Well?" I asked.

"Now, now. Let's not be so hasty. We've just met, and I think we should put the fun before the formalities."

"How do you plan to kill us?"

"Not enough time, so I'll make it simple." She grabbed one of the two spears she was wearing on her back. "Edwin, your next and last pay will be doubled to your wife, Edna"

"Y-yes... m-m-ma'm" She threw the spear at his chest, impaling him.

"Oh, dear. It appears I have made a mess." She took the spear out of him, put it back into her backstraps, and kicked the body into the water. "There we go. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you..." and we battled.

The woman had three Pokemon, one on the left side, and two on the right, the second waiting to battle.

"Mightyena, Grimer, do your job!" I sent out Blaise, and May went with Wailmer. I didn't want Blaise's life force to be wasted on... waste, so I switched out to Jeffery.

Mightyena went first of the three, and used Swagger on Wailmer.

Wailmer went second, using water pulse on Grimer.

Grimer went last, and poisoned Wailmer. Ouch.

I used this turn to use Ariel Ace on Grimer. Swift kill, but Mightyena wasn't dead yet. It used Snarl, which Jeffery avoided, but Wailmer didn't Poisoned, Confused, and Special Attack drop? What a mess... I used Fury Cutter on Mightyena. If this missed or May had just this Pokemon, she was a goner. I couldn't let that happen. Instead, the unthought alternative occurred: Mightyena survives the hit. May sent out Shroomish, and I went back out for Anita to get a quick hit. Mightyena couldn't help but confuse the Shroomish. I went with Charm on Mightyena to lower it's attack. Shroomish wasn't doing so well. Mightyena confused Anita, so I had to switch out. Fortunately, Shroomish got a chance to poison Mightyena. Mightyena didn't care, and it got a chance to bring out take out Shroomish. From my knowledge, this was May's last Pokemon. I switched back into Jeffery, who was promptly confused by Mightyena. Mightyena fell, and Carvanha rose. I switched to Blaise, but it was inevitable.

"No!" An Aqua Jet from Carvanha did huge damage to Combusken, and it went with double kick. Carvanha's rough skin activated, and her Combusken fell with Carvanha.

"How, interesting. Very, very interesting. How about we flip the coin? Heads, you die, tails, I die? Of course you'll accept my kind offer."The woman said. She took a quarter from me, and flipped it. Once it was at it's peak in altitude, she took out the clean spear, and it was thrown at May's head, doing no more damage than fracturing her skull. "Oh, I'm sorry. The coin landed on tails, but I really wanted some heads." She screamed, but when the woman whispered her name, Shelly, into May's ear, she removed the spear, silencing her.

"Here, kid. You've been cooperative. She threw both my quarter and an extra quarter. She also left the Doctor there. "We've got enough information from him." She kicked him to the ground, removed both spears, and walked away while the spears exchanged blood. I told the scientist I would escorted him home while carrying May's body. Before anyone could get very far people in red came up to us.

"Wait, before anyone speaks," I said. "If they're blue, Team Aqua, and your red, that must mean you're team flame?"

"Magma, actually." One of the grunts said. A more formal man with geeky glasses hit him with a newspaper, throwing it and him with Edwin's corpse. He tried to scream, but he grew tired, for there was no escape. The man with the Geeky glasses looked at the female grunt.

"Let that be an example for speaking out of line..." He said. She didn't speak.

"Hmph!" Shelly said. "Even Team Magma showed their faces, huh? There's nothing much to be done..." There was a long pause. She confronted Professor Cozmo quickly, and grabbed a "meteorite" he had. She ran off, and Glasses told the female grunt to go after her, but she threw the spear used to kill May at her leg, causing her to become immobile. I grabbed the spear, and held onto it. Glasses walked up to me.

"My name is Maxie."

"Oh!" I laughed. "Tell me another one, girly girl!"

"It's no laughing matter."

"Oh, fine. I promise I wont annoy you again, Glasses!"

"You were warned." He took the spear, and impaled the poor doctor in the chest. Maxie left after this. I returned to Birch to report the bad news. Sigh...


	15. Secrets Beyond

"Are you here to check your Pokedex?" Birch asked.

"I think you need to check this out." I carried May and her spear to Birch, and laid them down softly.

"I... I-i" He was horrified. "I don't... what happened?"

"Team Aqua Admin Shelly. We were battling her, and her code is victory or death. I beat her, but May lost. I needed to come to you. Not just because she's dead, but because this spear contains very important data.

"What do you mean?" He talked softly.

"This spear contains the blood of Professor Cozmo and May. We need Cozmo's knowledge of some stuff if we want to be able to stop them."

"Hand over the spear. We'll scan it for DNA samples to see what they know from their point of view." He scanned it, but it took a couple of days. I spent most of the time at May's house with her mother, three days, until Birch was ready.

"Here. I'll update the salvaged memories to your Pokedex. I deleted Cozmo's private memories, and May's private memories only belong on my copy." He updated it, and Cozmo's memory system had only 3 minutes of data, the important stuff, and May's visible memory is just the time I spent with her.

I headed over to Mt. Chimney, to do more than just avenge May. It was Victory or Death.

The journey was long, hard and grueling, even the parts where I rode the cable car some distance to there. I found Maxie there, messing with Team Aqua grunts.

"Ugh!" Maxie said. "Impudent fools! You Team Aqua curs dare to impede the great Maxie? Apparently, the top of Mt. Chimney is a volcano. I traversed through the area, looking for some action, then I found it.

It was in the form of finding Shelly on a bridge over the center of the Volcano.

"What're you doing here?" She asked.

"You dropped this." I slid May's death spear at her feet, where she picked it back up.

"No matter. You're in the way, though. Archie dreams of a utopia for Pokemon. I can't let you get in the way of someone who is pushing on toward a perfect world!"

"I'm on your side, but I can't help but notice that you use evil tactics."

"It's too late. You'll just have to prepare yourself! Join May already! You're our last obstacle, and I plan on removing it!" and we fought, again.

"She sent out Grimer. I used Dual Chop, doing nice damage. Grimer used sludge, but got neither significant damage nor a poison. This left it open for a Mega Drain, healing Blaise. Shelly sent out Carvanha, and I simply used Leaf Blade.

"Wha... wha?" She had a tear in her face. Heh... huh. Fine. Must you be so persistent. She went to the center of the bridge, and stuck both of her spears in her chest, falling into the lava. I salute her, and miss her already.

I saw Archie in the middle, simply staring at Shelly, then looking at the machine he's playing with. "The great swell of power that sleeps deep in the magma. Is it truly the key to controlling the ancient Pokemon's power?" Archie said.

"I'll let you decide." I said. He looked at me.

Archie laughed. "Since you've truly become powerful, I s'pose I could let you in on what's just going on. See, this meteorite could be turned into a real, nice valuable bit, like maybe a Mega Stone. I remembered what Cressa said.

"Did she really my name wrong that badly?" Her voice voiced.

"As long as we're here at Mt. Chimney..." Archie laughed. "If I give away all my secrets, all the thrill'd be gone! I think I'll just leave you hanging here. You've gotten away with too much already, and YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH ANY MORE!"

We, get this, and you just won't believe it, but we actually, no really, battled. Surprised? Me neither!

"Blaise! Go!" Archie sent out Mightyena. "Use Leaf Blade!" Mightyena fell. Archie went with Sharpedo. "Keep going Blaise! Use Mega Drain!" Then came Golbat. "Anita, finish this, and use Fake Out!" Not much damage. Golbat got away with a confuse ray.

"Switch out for Blaise!" Golbat used Wing attack. Almost a quarter. "Dual Chop!" Golbat lived, but it was very weak. "Finish it! Mega Drain!"

"Oh! You went a did it, didn't you?" Archie laughed. "Brilliant!" There was a ring. "Tch. I'm gonna have to ask you to hold that thought. Time out." He was on call with some guy called Matt. "Gotta put our battle on hold till next time. Take this. It should help ya keep busy till we settle the score." He gave me the Meteorite. Archie left, but Maxie came.

"I've seen you before, child." Maxie said.

"Hey, glasses." I said. "The name is Syndicate, by the way."

"Hrmph. It seems that if you repelled Archie, then you must not be trifled with. What's that fool up to now?"

"Oh, he said something about meteor and mega stone and Pokemon."

"No! Could it be possible that he has confirmed the existence of the orbs at last?"

"Sir!" Said one grunt behind him. "Do orbs really need confirmation of very existence?"

"Very good question, Marc." Maxie said. "Why don't you ask the Grim Reaper?" He slapped him off the bridge, into the pit. I could've sworn I saw a blue hand drag him down while he tried to hold onto a rock. Shelly is probably immortal. "The orbs are devices that revert the lord of the land and sea to their ultimate form. Come, Trina. We have work to do." Maxie left. I climbed down the path towards Lavaridge Town. It was called the Jagged Path, and it was called that for a reason.

Once at Lavaridge, I noticed that the Pokemon Center looked different. It has a spring of sorts there, which didn't mean much to me.


	16. Flannery

I was offered an egg of some sort by an old lady. I also found a herb shop, but I don't like using herbs as medicine. Too bitter. That's really absolutely all of the things of note besides the gym, which I entered, of course. The gimmick here was trap doors. Where do they go? I'll leave the rest to you. It's not exactly a fun thing to read about.

"WELCOME!" Flannery screamed at the top of her lungs, then she spoke just yelling. "No, wait. I mean... Puny Trainer, you've done well to make it this far! Let's see. I'm, uh, honored to be serving as the Gym Leader of... No, I mean... I'm Flannery, and I'm in charge here! Uh.. You'd better not underestimate me just 'cause-"

"Oh, shut up and battle me already." I said.

She sent out Slugma, but Blaise killed it. She sent our Torkoal, but Blaise did nice damage before being hit by a near-death Overheat, then he proceeded to kill it. She sent out Numel. That died too. She handed over the Heat Badge and TM for Overheat. Yaaay... I think now is time to fight father. He wanted me to become strong before I challenged him. This was the perfect time to face him. I've done so much.


	17. Father Dearest, Norman's Story

I headed to Petalburg City, but Cressa was running towards me. When she stopped, she sort of slid.

"I've..." She was breathing heavily. "I..."

"Slow down, and just take your time." Twenty seconds passed.

"I've been taking on all the gyms, running around, trying to catch up..."

"You left sometime before I even reached Mauville... oh. I must've stopped too much. Glad that good things come from it."

"Now that we're here..." We faced the gym. "Let's go. Together."

"Really?"

"No, most gym leader's aren't into multi battles. Just stick behind me, and you'll be fine."

"Right, Syndicate!" I really had only one choice against Norman, and that was Blaise.

I thought that Norman's Gym would be more simplified, what with him and the gym being the only things there, but apparently Father had the Gym renovated, with the gimmick of "choose". I could pick the accuracy, or speed path. I didn't know what it meant, but I told Cressa that she would pick which path she'd take, and I'll take the other.

"Uhm... Accuracy?"

"Right, then. I'll be right with you." I took the Speed Door, and left her to battle on her own. My first challenge was a Delcatty, or Anita's potential form, but she's not in my part right now. Blaise, Jeffery, Xander, Archimedes the Trapinch, Calypso the Wynaut, who came from the egg, and a spot for the HM Carrier. People refer to them as HM Slaves, but I don't have access to an HM deleter, so I have just give credit for someone to carry the HMs and not meant for battle, hence Friez the Zigzagoon.

The trainer of Delcatty used an X Speed, but I already won with a Leaf Blade. Behind him were two other doors: the Zero Reduction room and the Defense Room. I got curious, and entered the Zero Reduction room, where I was ultimately faced with... The inability to lower the opponent's stats. Meh. The next room was the strength room, the room of brute force. Blaise was too fast and too powerful for anything to happen. I saw Cressa just coming in.

"This is the last room. I'll wait for you."

"Oh, ok." Blah blah, win, we entered Father's room. He was meditating towards a window.

"'Hm..." He said. "So, you did get four Gym Badges."

"Yeah." I said. "I will like my fifth."

"So would I!" Cressa entered the room.

"Ah.. Then, as I promised, we'll have a Pokemon battle. Come, Syndicate. You're first."

"Yes. I shall." He led with Slaking, and I went for Blaise. I used Quick Attack. I should give my father some chance, shouldn't I?

"Why did you leave us?" Quick Attack from Blaise.

"I didn't want to see you die, if you did." Slaking yawned, allowing sleep next turn.

"And mother? What of her?" Blaise used Frenzy Plant.

"I..." He switched out Slaking for Vigoroth.

"You're just an old man who's made mistakes, aren't you?" Blaise fell asleep.

"Yes, I guess so." Vigoroth used Encore.

"Can't you try harder? Come back home, in Sinnoh." I played the Blue Flute to wake up Blaise.

"But, my job.." Vigoroth used Retaliate, but it missed."

"You can get a job in Sinnoh." I used Frenzy Plant, for Encore locked Blaise in.

"Who'd I replace?" He sent out Slaking.

"What about Roark? He's young, after all." Blaise had to recharge.

"Byron's son? I couldn't!" Slaking used Swagger, but it missed.

"What about Volkner? He's bored because he doesn't get any challengers?" I used Frenzy Plant.

"Yeah... Okay, you convinced me." Slaking fell. I had won. "Okay, but before I leave, take this." The Balance Badge. "Here's the TM for Retaliate, too."

"Thanks.." I waited outside for Cressa, and she eventually followed me.

"Oh, hey. So, what do we do now?" She asked.

"I was about to ask you." As if by cue, Wally and his father came by to visit.

"I never got to thank you properly." Wally's father said. "'I believe this should do." He handed me the HM for Surf, the most powerful water-type move in my book. Plus, thanks to it, I can use one of my Pokemon to surf onto the water. Unfortunately, I didn't have any Pokemon that could learn it, so I went back and caught a Marill. For it's potential in power and huge relation to water, including the fact it was lurking in the back of my mind, I simply called him Mercedes. Mind you, the conversation wasn't over, so everything I just said after the words "I didn't" and before "Mind you", happened in the short future.

"You taught Wally what he needed to know to gain the courage to continue his journey. He used to be very, very sick, but we were at Verdanturf, and he got much better." His father continued.

"I though that, maybe I could come with you?" Wally asked.

"I've known you for the three months I've wasted in Hoenn, so sure." I told him.

"Thanks! This is going to be great!" Wally exclaimed. The fact that I have to journey with three people at once is difficult enough, but I think it'll be fine for a couple of days. I only have to beat three more Gym Leaders to gain access to Victory Road, then beat the Elite Four, which I can proceed to beat the Hoenn Champion, where I can get a free ticket to the S.S. Anne for two free trips, with one for going anywhere I want within the six discovered regions and one for going home to Sinnoh, where I can head to the secret area where Deoxys is hiding, where I can defeat him, collect his power crystal in hiss chest, and restore willpower to all future generations. Problem is, I don't even know where he's hiding. Help me, Arceus. Just, please.


	18. Latias

This is the part where I caught Mercedes. No need to go into great detail for something I explained five minutes ago, so if you're really that lazy, you should be ashamed of yourself. I headed back to Mauville City, where I could continue my probably pointless adventure.

"You can't be serious!" Cressa said.

"Let's face it, we have to head east. It's the only way to find the other Gym Leaders." I said.

"But, they're so much stronger."

"What choice do we have? Turn the human race into lifeless statues? Humanity will die once we do, and we will die. We'll just have to get stronger."

"Father said that the trainers here are much stronger." I do admit, she is right. I found a wild Sharpedo at level 40, which is pretty high."

"Then we'll train." We surfed our way to somewhere.

Eventually, we reached a large enough island to find Steven Stone hanging out there.

"Why, hello." He said.

"Steven, Cressa, Cressa, Steven, Steven, Wally, Wally, Steven," I said. I only went as far as I needed.

"Hello, Mr. Stone." Wally said.

"You know him?" I asked?"

"He's the son of the founder of Devon Corps."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Syndicate," Steven said. "It's good to see that your journey is going well. I've always wondered what you trainers think... Do you raise Pokemon you like, or Pokemon that work best in a team?"

"I.." Before I could answer, a sound was made.

"Shwahhn!" The sound sounded.

"..Hm?" Steven said.

"What is it, Steven?" Cressa asked.

"Latios!" Steven said. The same sound was made. "Do you... want us to soar somewhere with you?"

"What?" Wally whispered to me and Cressa. "How are we supposed to ride on that thing?"

"I guess some of us will have to find our own way to fly." Cressa said.

"Syndicate," Steven said. "Come with me."

"Okay." I looked back at my friends. Wally said that he got a Swellow earlier, and he could use that. "Where are we going?" We hopped onto Latios.

"We'll just have to find out." We appeared in a very small island with waterfalls everywhere. Latios left.

Steven paused. "I don't know what it is... Not quite unease, not quite fear, but there is something...unsettling." Cressa arrived.

"Cressa," I asked. "Is Mesprit going insane? Steven's feeling 'unsettled'."

"She's asleep." Cressa said.

"I once heard an odd fable." Steven said.

"Ooh!" Wally exclaimed. "Storytime! Everyone, sit down."

Steven started the story. "It was said that the two Pokemon that live on this island guard some secret about that great form of Evolution: Mega Evolution. Could it be that some dangerous element is here because of that?"

"That story was only two sentences long!" We all got up.

"Come, we should get going." Steven said. We were at a raised platform, and found a straight forest path. As expected, I thought about it for a moment, and went in. The path had a carved message on one of the trees.

Th- wh- mem-de se- to carv- th—rts

Blood had covered the "-" parts, but I wiped them off with my sleeve.

"Those whose memories fade seek to carve them in their hearts..."

What is meant was beyond me, but I'd take it as a sign for bad things to come. I went through the path to find Latias at the end of the path.

"Latias... such beauty..." Steven said. "If I were to describe such beauty is terms of a stone, it would be a Sun Stone." Of course... "No... It goes beyond that... Isn't it's brilliance like that of a Dawn Stone?"

"I would say a 'Latiasite', but let's go with that for now." I said.

Latias made a soft cry. Team Aqua was here.

"Huhn?!" A large, shirtless man in Aqua garb said. "What's this?! You?!"

"Yes," I said. "Me. Now, what do you want?"

The female grunt spoke. "Mr. Matt, sir! That pipsqeuak over there is the kid that I heard keeps getting in our way!"

Matt looked at her long and staringly. "Be glad my policy isn't as strict as Shelly's. Speak up one more time, and you're fish food."

"Yes... sir." She was never heard from again.

"What I want is from you is that Latias behind you there."

"I don't see anything of interest besides Latias here." I said.

"Move over! If you get out of our way, we..." He looked at the pit. "I won't rough you up."

"I'll move if you turn around, and join your friend."

"If you're really that stupid, then I'll have no choice but to squash you!" Out came a Sharpedo and a Grimer, which were no threat. They did not last long at all. Mercedes was ready to evolve, and so I allowed it. Xander also evolved into Kirlia, at the same time. Matt taunted us, then left.

"It looks as though Latias recognized you as a trainer worthy of it's trust." Steven said. "Look, it's trying to offer you it's allegiance. Go on, hold out your hand to it."

I raised my hand to it. "It's fine..." Latias has joined the party. "Andromeda..." Apparently, it was carrying a piece of Latiasite.

"Hi!" Andromeda said. "I like you!"

"You're nice too." I said. Steven handed me the Mega Amulet.

"What's it do?"

"It allows the use of Mega Evolution." Steven said.

"Thank you." I found Wally and Cressa outside. I told them "Long story", and left. I said my goodbye to Steven, and that was it.

I headed forward, and noticed that it was heavily raining. I told Wally to just go on forward, without us. My next destination was Fortree City, but it was a bit of a chore trying to get there.

Before I could, I saw Aqua members running around the Weather Institute. I went inside the Institute, only to find, you guessed it, Aqua Members ready to blow some stuff up, namely my Pokemon. Blaise was just too powerful for any of them anyways.


	19. Winnoa

On the second floor, I saw Shelly talking with scientists.

"Could it be? Is this the world... Archie hoped to create..." Shelly said. One scientist said that she stole something, and to give the thing back, but she slapped the guy into next week.

"Well, well, well. We have unfinished business, don't we?" I said. "How did you survive?"

"Oh, hello. Let's just say that I have my contacts..."

"Cyrus...?"

"No names shall be given, but at least one will be taken." She looked at the man she slapped. "I'm taking care of you later. For now, he's mine."

"Let's do this..." She sent out Sharpedo, and I sent out Blaise. Blaise went first and used Leaf Blade, causing Sharpedo to faint. How depressing.

"Archie's on the way to Mt. Pyre. You've dealt with your friends loss well, and I reward brave ones."

I talked with the scientists, and learned about Primal Reversion, then I went to Fortree City. Distractions were everywhere, including Steven Stone talking about something or another. This was immediately followed by me following him.

He gave me some goggles to see Kecleon and a Sceptileite, and a quick goodbye. It's like Christmas, but there's less interacting and more using!

I headed inside Winnoa's Gym back in Fortree. The gimmick here was that there were boards, and some were blocked by logs, making going through them impossible.

Suffice to say, the gimmick was beaten, very quickly. Battling her for her badge took about as much time. As the description of it all was short, I'll just tell you that she's a flying-type trainer and loves "grace".


	20. The Cave of Origin

Once I defeated, Winnoa, I continued on my journey. I've heard tales of this place. It's a sort of labyrinth, according to legend. In fact, I continued on the path and noticed that the area I was in looked the same. Suffice to say, I could have been lost, but little things helped me figure out my location, such as secret base hideouts. Cressa, on the other hand, wasn't so certain.

"Are you sure we haven't already went this way?" Cressa asked.

"Yes, Cressa." I answer.

"This bridge looks an awful lot like the one we just crossed."

"Almost every bridge in Hoenn is based on this design."

"Not every bridge hangs over a small, deep lake with grassy plains to the North."

"Cressa, we'll be fine."

"Syndicate, surely you must understand that it's getting dark, and there's barely anyone here." She was right. The only people besides us were bug maniacs, and I don't even remember where Wally went.

"If we camp for the night, will you feel better?"

"Please.."

"Time to get to work." I had just so happened to bring a medium sized tent, a bag of marshmallows, milk, crackers (last long for emergencies), short rods broken from Shelly's spear, (she had returned it), a canister of water, and some matches. Of course, I wasn't going to lug that stuff around in a giant backpack, oh no. I used the shrinking technology of Pokeballs to give each object easy access and carrying power.

It was starting to rain, so we had to move the camp into the woods as close to the path as possible so that we may have an effective campfire. After setting everything up and teaching Cressa that she needed to "ration" in case one of us becomes hungrier than the other, and for future reference.

"Now, when can you eat?" I ask.

"Only when my stomach growls..." Her stomach had growled, and so had mine. We were under the cover of the trees, which were low enough to provide effective shade, but high enough for neither of us to be able to touch the leaves without jumping. I gathered some stray wood, and lit one of the matches. Both of us watched the fire in awe. It was aggressive, yet peaceful. It's an odd feeling, but dying of starvation was the way neither or us wanted to go, so I cleaned the rods, stuck marshmallows on them, and we got to frying. We decided that 1 wasn't going to fill us up, so we ate three each, which is a tenth of the bag.

After some feasting, we went into our tents and went to sleep.

Once Cressa had recovered from her worries, we continued moving at 5:00 in the morning, where we got a bite to eat at Lilycove City's Mall.

"Yes, um, I'd like one cheeseburger. Make sure it's all natural Miltank cheese, I'm allergic to Gogoat milk." I say to the cashier.

"I'm sorry, sir. It's Gogoat cheese or no cheese at all." He says.

"Gogoats aren't even native to Hoenn!"

"Neither are Milktanks." Milktank milk was expensive, but that's because of it's exquisite taste and nutrition.

"Fine, I'll just take the Chicken Nuggets."

"Combusken or Taillow?"

"Combusken."

"And the lady?"

"She'll just take a small sundae and milk."

"We only have bottles of Moomoo milk."

"That's Miltank milk."

"It is."

"How did you get it?"

"Shippings." I'm never coming back here again. We went to our seats, and Cressa seemed to enjoy McGarchomp's, but we had to leave eventually. Of course, Team Aqua had to be doing something here. What it was supposed to be was beyond me, but the answer was just given to me once I found a cave. A long, water path led to some stairs, which led to guards in front of an opening. They refused to move and said that Archie wasn't there, so I went looking for him. I still had the meteorite he gave me. Mt. Pyre... It was time to follow Shelly's instructions. The way there was by surfing.

"Syn, are you sure of this?" Cressa asked.

"Never been surer." Mt. Pyre was not what I though it was. I figured it was like that other volcano I went to, but no. It's a graveyard, such as the one in Kanto, Sinnoh, and Unova. Whether there was one in Johto I don't know, and I think there just simply isn't one in Kalos.

After climbing many, haunting floors, I reached the top. This area was a main graveyard and not inside the building. Reminds me of the Spear Pillar. I was blocked by grunts to face Archie, but they were stalling the inevitable. I reached the Peak. He saw two orbs, a red orb with an Omega, and a blue orb with an Alpha. Archie took the blue orb, and said hi to me.

"Yo." Archie said. "I though something was a bit noisy! Matt, keep him entertained while I use the orbs power at Slateport!" And he left. Matt faces me.

"Cressa! Get behind me!" I looked behind me, and all around. She was still in front of Mount Pyre, apparently a bit afraid.

"Oh, let's just do this." I used the amazingness of my Pokemon to obliterate Matt's Sharpedo. When he left, I took the Red Orb. An old man, the guardian of the orbs, told me a story.

"The world was wracked by an unceasing battle between Kyogre, the Pokemon of the sea, and Groudon, the Pokemon of the land... Kyogre raising huge waves and carving out oceans... Groudon raising mountains and creating continents... Their fierce duel raged without end. The world was assaulted by vicious rains and merciless heat in turn. Only one power was great enough to quell this terrible outpouring, that of the Blue Orb and the Red Orb. The light which poured from the Red Orb calmed Kyogre in it's fury and the light which swelled from the Blue Orb quieted Groudon in it's rage. The two, now docile, dove deep into the sea and earth and disappeared from human eyes..." The old man said.

"Riveting." I went back to Cressa and finish off Archie.

I found Captain Stern finishing up his ship project, but a hacker got his way into the intercom at the docks.

"Testing, testing, we're in? Okay!" The voice said. "I know you're listening out there... Stern! We're taking control of your lovely submarine!" He ran into the docks. Shelly and Archie were just outside the sub.

"Impossible!" Archie said. "You followed us all the way from Mt. Pyre?" Technically, I flew. "Too late now. Come Shelly!" Grunts took me on. I dealt with them, but Archie and Shelly were long gone. Stern offered me a free ride back to Lilycove. Team Aqua was hiding back in the cave I talked about earlier this chapter. As soon as I returned, I was greeted with the fact that the guards earlier were gone. I continued forward.

"Stay behind me, Cressa. Now matter how bad things get, we'll prevail if we just work together..." I said.

"Oh.. okay..." She replied simply. The hideout had teleporters required to correctly maneuver the place. Grunts were littered everywhere, but I did my best to try and not be seen by them, which usually worked, but I ran into a couple. I encountered Quintuplets and Matt for battle.

"You're the first punk ever to sneak into this hideout and make it this far!" Matt said. He turned around and looked at the submarine.

"Does this mean I get a cookie?" I asked

"No, but the submarine is finished! Look at that drill! As long as we've got that thing, we could KO the seal over the Seafloor Cavern with one punch!"

"Speaking of KO..." While he was bragging, I pushed him. His head hit the submarine and he slid off it, falling into the water. Suffice to say, he apparently had no clue how to swim, because he never rose.

"That's one problem taken care of." I said to Cressa. The Quintuplets went home. Whoever was inside the submarine, likely Archie and Shelly, must've heard a bang on the submarine and decided now was a great time to leave. Where he went, I don't know, but it must be nearby. I encountered the Gym in Mossdeep City against Liz and Tate and asked Cressa to go fight it while I contemplated about how we could pull this whole thing off at Lilycove. She came back with the badge and HM for Dive, and we got to work. Unfortunately, as soon as she returned, a blast of light appeared from the Cave of Origin. I had to get there as soon as possible. I put on last year's Christmas gift, scuba gear, told Cressa to stay at Lilycove, and headed into the cave of origin. Upon resurface, I took off the mask, finding Sootopolis City, but I wasn't there for that, but the Cave of Origin was there. I found an old man guardian.

"Who might you be? This is the Cave of Origin." He said.

"I am Syndicate of the Sinnoh region."

"The spirits of Pokemon, becalmed at Mt. Pyre, are said to be revived here. Please leave."

"I have business..."

"Please leave." I went looking for somewhere else to find Aqua. I went underwater again and found the Seafloor Cavern. There, I found a a cave, of course. Traversing it was no easy task.

I reached the bottom of the cavern in next to no time. Archie was just finishing a battle with Maxie.

"Urk!" Maxie coughed out some blood. Archie just laughed.

"You're looking pretty pathetic now, aren't you? The great Maxie!" Archie said.

"Ugh... A-Archie... you..." Maxie coughed again. He fell to his knees. Archie laughed.

"Y-you, child..."

"Well," Archie looked at me. "If it isn't my little adversary! I can't even find the words to praise you as you deserve."

"Heh." I said. "I'm impressed at how far you've gotten, especially with Maxie in the way."

"Sometimes it's best to keep things simple. You've impressed me so much, that you'll get the honor of meeting my new partner before anyone else living in this world!"

"Eh, who?"

"The super-ancient Pokemon, KYOGRE! How 'bout that?"

"I thought finding Dialga was more impressive, but this works too."

Archie scoffed. "I've been waiting so long for this day to come. We humans have disregarded Pokemon and nature both in our endless pursuit of our own desires and needs, and in the process we've created this broken and disordered world, but this is the day when I finally obtain the power to return everything to how it once was- to return to our beginnings! Now that I can release the ancient power! The ancient power of Primal Kyogre! Now, you're the last token resistance that's trying to ruin my day. I'll use everything on my team and I have to crush you once and for all!"

"Uh-huh..." I say.

"Oh? And... Mega evolution? Did ya think that you and your Pokemon are the only ones who can use it?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Let me show you know what I didn't get the chance to show you at Mt. Chimney... This is the true power of my team! GRAAAAAHHHH!"

"Oh, okay." He sent out Mightyena, but I sent out Blaise. A vortex of water surrounded us in our battle.

"Blaise! Use X-Scissor!" Mightyena was finished. He sent out Muk. Not good.

"Quick Attack!" Not enough. It went for Gunk Shot, killing Blaise.

"No!" He was lost for now. I'm not forgetting him, not ever. "Andromeda! Avenge him!"

"I.. I... This... You monster!" Andromeda was slightly crying, but she was strong.

"Mega Evolve, and use Mist Ball!" Muk was gone, no longer, but we weren't finished. Crobat.

"Stay in, take what it's got, and use Mist Ball!" Crobats were very, very fast, but not fast enough for Andromeda, apparently. Sharpedo...

"Andromeda, listen to me."

"Syndicate?"

"He may have a type advantage, but you have Dragon Breath. Finish this all, now."

"Grahh!" Archie yelled. "You won't win so easy!" Sharpedo used scary face, lowering Andromeda's speed. If Andromeda went first, we'd win, no matter what. If Sharpedo went first, it's going to be quite a gamble. Sharpedo did go first, and used to scary move I didn't want to see: Crunch. Andromeda took it very poorly, but she was well and alive, 9 HP, and she was at Max HP before the hit, but she was alive, and got her chance at victory. Meanwhile, Nikolai evolved.

Archie laughed, starting from a giggle to cracking up. "AHAHAHA! Perfect! You're as great as a hero should be, but it changes nothing. I can't give up now! I can't! Now! AWAKEN KYOGRE!" There was just a stone statue of Kyogre, but peice by piece, he was coming back.

"Archie!" A voice yelled from behind us. It was Shelly.

"Shelly?!" Archie asked.

"That's enough! Can't you see that the world you dream of and the world Kyogre will create are two completely different places?!"

"Shelly..." Archie said. I sat down on a rock nearby, and Maxie was struggling to stand up. "I always believed that you would at least understand my dreams, but no! In the end, the only one I can depend on is you, Kyogre! Reclaim yourself!" The blue orb was speeding up the freeing process. Maxie got up.

"No... That..." Maxie said. One all the stone pices were gone, a blue aurora surrounded Kyogre. I couldn't see him through the crystal, and water shot everywhere. upwards. He was swimming towards Sootopolis. He looked at the land, and he hated it.

Archie laughed. "At last... AT LAST! I've finally done it!" It hasn't even finished reversion, and it still has the much power!"

"What have you done?!" Shelly yelled. A beeping came from somewhere, but not here.

"Is that the crew outside?" Archie asked. "What is it...?" Oh, so the great deluge has begun, but of course it has!"

"Archie," I said. "You do realise that Kyogre will destroy every piece of land in Hoenn until it either calms down or sees another region! It's unlikely Kyogre's going to destroy all of Hoenn and not see Kanto, then Johto. Then, less likely, he may go after Kalos, then Unova! If it finishes Unova, he won't miss Sinnoh, then he's going to swim around and destroy every less important regions such as Orre or Almia until there's no land left!

"I've got a call, hang on. What?! Just, just keep an eye on it, okay?"

"What's going on outside?" Shelly asked.

"All that matters is I've made a great sea for all Pokemon to enjoy."

"Archie." Maxie said. He was turned away from us and little more vertically. "It appears you have made a grave error regarding Kyogre's powers."

"What... did you say?" Archie asked.

"The 'beginning' that Primal Kyogre brings about... the way that it resets the world... It starts be drving every living thing on this planet to death first!"

"Even the Magikarp?" I ask

"Yes, even the Magikarp. This path leads only to an inescapable despair that cannot be withstood. That is all you could have brought us."

"Well, let's get to work already!" I yell as I leave the cavern. Maxie and Shelly agreed. Archie looked at the pit before he left. It was raining heavily.

"This... This is..." Archie said.

"How awful..." Shelly said as she looked at Archie.

"I... I only wanted... I wanted to make... a world where Pokemon could live on... in peace..."

"You clearly had a better way to do it than Team Galactic. They knew full and well that they were hitting the big reset button." I had an idea. "If I befriended Dialga to save the universe, I could befriend Kyogre!"

"You..." Maxie said. "We'll make our way to Sootopolis. In the deepest regions of the Cave of Origin, which lies in the heart of Sootopolis City... That's where Kyogre will find power. Come with me!" He looked at Archie. "You and your team of fools will accompany us." They left to Sootopolis, and I was the last one on this pathetic ring circle, but Steven Stone showed up just in time.

"Syndicate! I'm sorry I could not be here sooner."

"You're just in time!"

"So this is what was depicted in the wall at Granite Cave! Come on, Steven... Think! What are you going to do?" He paused. "No. There's no point agonizing from here... I'm going to Sootopolis."

I led with Nikolai to protect Andromeda until I could heal her. Once I found Steven, he introduced me to his friend.

"My name is Wallace. I'm this town's Gym Leader. I've also been entrusted with the protection of the Cave of Origin. That downpour is being caused by an object in the cave." He looked at me. "That is the Red Orb. I see. Follow me." He's even less interesting with his speech than Maxie. Our desination was the cave. Maxie, Archie, and Shelly were already there.

"We've been expecting you." Maxie said.

"You're the one who told me to come here first." I said.

"Archie," Shelly said. "I'm giving the thing we developed to Syn, all right?"

"Yes." Archie said. "The Aqua Suit. Take it..."

"Thanks?" I said. While everyone else was talking about power inside it too much for me to care, I went inside.

I found Kyogre far below. I got into the suit and put the Red Orb into it's chest. Archie has outfitted a speaker on it, but he only had enough time to tell me to get onto it's back before the connection was lost. I did, and we swam underwater. When it stopped, it was in an area with rainbows and lasers and electricity, the works. My Pokenav stopped working. There were two beings in the room we found ourselves in: Me and Kyogre.

"Heh. I guess we've been leading up to this moment. It all ends here, you know?" Kyogre let out his shrill cry. He was Primal Reverting. A blue sapphire wrapped around him, the Greek Alpha was writted on the sapphire before it was broken by Kyogre, looking even more elegant, but this was just the beginning of what was about to happen. I started with the Quick Ball, which failed. It took nearly forever before I simply gave up and used a Master Ball. I felt as if I would regret this once I went after Deoxys, but it was the Master Ball or my patience.

"Hello, Leviathan." I felt that the storm above was calming down, but at a price. The cave was collapsing, and I had to get out. I was ablse to escape, almost without my life, but that was that. Everything just worked out in the end, I guess. I had managed to get out of the cave before I realized that my right leg was bleeding too much for me to handle. I sat down, pushing my arms against it to stop the bleeding, and saw Steven Stone was looking at me. I could've sworn I saw May standing next to him, but when I blinked, she disappeared.

"Let's go get you fixed up." He then took me to his house in Mossdeep. We stayed here long enough to watch Maxie and Archie become conscious of what they did wrong and become good people.


	21. Wallace

"You'll be fine, but you'll have to keep these on until I say." Steven said. He wrapped my legs around with bandages. "If you feel pain, it's not shrapnel. No rocks have entered your body."

"I'll need to get back to Sinnoh once my journey is finished." I said.

"The healing period will take one or two years, but I'll tend to your wounds for you, okay?"

"All right." I tried standing up, but it failed me.

"Do you, perhaps have any Pokemon you could ride around on?"

"I have a Ponyta."

"I'll get it trained up for you. You'll do fine on a Rapidash. Where is it?"

"Vatra should be back at my house in Sinnoh. I'll call Cressa." I called her.

"Hi, Cressa. Sorry I couldn't get you, but I'm in a bit of a pinch. Could you head back to Sinnoh and find Vatra? She should be near my house. Thanks." Two days passed, and I had to ride Vatra if I was going to get anywhere. As a Rapidash, she could control her flames near her saddle to allow me to ride effectively.

I was about ready to reach Wallace. I transfered from land to sea or flight by wrapping my unbroken leg around Andromeda, and letting the damaged leg fall. Transfering back was pretty much the same thing. Once there, the gimmick was breaking ice. I called handicap, and was granted access to fly over all of this. Vatra couldn't be alone, so I put her in her Pokeball in an extra space in my backpack rather than cramming her ball into my belt. I could only fit six in there wayway.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Wallace said.

"We met back at the Cave of Origin..."

"Hrm. There's something about you... a difference in your demeanor... I think I sense that in you. What you did in the Cave, our upcoming battle will make that all clear."

Suffice to say, any Kyogre with access to Thunder will destroy any water-based team.

He sent out a Luvdisc (yes, really). BAM! Dead.

Whiscash. BAM! Doesn't affect Ground types. I switched for Calypso the Wobbufett.

Milotic. BAM! Mirror Coat.

Sealeo. BAM! Thunder.

Seaking. BAM! Thunda!

He was Monotoning again, so I tuned him out. He gave me the Rain Badge and the HM for Waterfall.


	22. The Elite

I was ready to take on the Pokemon League, but that's not what I wanted to do right now. I was going to find the best team to assist me in my perilous journey. Cyrus was no pushover, and neither was Deoxys. I had to be prepared.

It took a couple of months, but I was able to track down a great team.

\- Kira, the Gengar

\- Aurora, the Dragonite.

\- Sapphire, the Lugia.

\- Mercedes, the Azumarill

\- Blew, the shiny Mew

\- Andromeda, the Latias.

I got to training, but it wasn't an easy task.

Seeing as how I needed a carrier, I gave Andromeda a break to cross Victory Road. It was like Sinnoh's Victory Road, but worse. I did reach the end eventually, of course.

"Are you sure about this?" Mercedes asked.

"I've never been surer." I answered. I set Mercedes as the lead. My first opponent was Sidney, the Dark Elite Four member.

"Welcome, challenger! I like that look you're giving me. I guess you'll give me a good match. That's good!"

"Oh, you don't know the half of it..."

"Let's get down to it then!" He led with Mightyena.

"Mercedes! Use..." Intimidation cut Mercedes attack. I went back to Aurora. Mightyena used Swagger, but I was able to play the Yellow Flute to snap him out of confusion.

"Use Dragon Dance!" Attack and speed were boosted. It used swagger again. I just played the yellow flute. Meanwhile, Mightyena did the same poor strategy. I decided to just abuse the free boosts until attack and speed were maxed, or until the system ended. It didn't.

"Use Thunder Punch!" Attack was maxed, easy defeat. Shifty was sent out. "Use Fly!" Shiftry had other plans, but they meant nothing in the long run. Sharpedo fell quickly too. It was the final two: Absol and Cacturne, so I just used Outrage, taking out both of them, but Cacturn did a number to Aurora. I gave her a couple super potions.

"You've got what it takes to go a long way!" Sidney said. "Go on the the next room and challenge your next battle!" I couldn't tell if that was correct grammar, but it was certainly not important enough for me to care.

My next challenge was Pheobe, the Ghost-type trainer. I led with Kira, because she was certainly fast enough. She was an interesting character, because she wore tropical clothing, so she certainly looks the part of a water type trainer. She also spent her time waving her arms back and forth, while Sidney was sitting in a chair, all smug.

Phoebe laughed. "I'm Phoebe, of the Elite Four! I did my training on Mt. Pyre. While I trained there, I gained the ability to commune with Ghost-type Pokemon. The bond I developed with my Pokemon is extremely tight. Come on! Just try and see if you can even inflict damage on my Pokemon!" It was hard to take her seriously.

She started with Dusclops. Suffice to say, I've seen better encounters, but at least I outleveled it, and it wasn't a... Eh.. The next Pokemon was Sableye, but after that was a Dusknoir. Both were pretty scary to come up against in a team such as mine, especially Dusknoir. I used Aurora and hoped for the best. Is a critical hit Ice Punch a good enough answer? Dusknoir fell, but Aurora wasn't feeling too good either, but the following Banettes were easy enough, so I got a chance to heal. I left Phoebe to swing her arms again.

The next challenge was Glacia, of the Ice group. I led with Blew for no other reason than the only Pokemon I have that's not weak to ice moves are a Gengar, an Azumarill, and a Mew. The first two weren't exactly the best of the best in the defense department, so meh.

"Welcome. I've traveled from afar to Hoenn so I may hone my Ice-type moves, but all I have seen are challenges by weak trainers and their Pokemon. I wonder what you will show me." She tilted her head slightly to the right before the battle. Blew was... unused for the simple reason of being too powerful, making it too easy, but I had no choice. Sacrifice a couple or settle with the best? I knew that option A was automatically chosen for me if I didn't choose.

"You and you Pokemon... How fiercely your spirits burn! Advance to the next room.

My next opponent was Drake, the Dragon tamer. I led with Sapphire.

"I am the last of the Elite Four." He then asked ethical questions. "If you don't, you will never prevail over me!" I had to switch out to Mercedes to keep an infinite loop of sleep occurring, but she died. I had to keep going.

The champion was upon me. My semi-final challenge in Hoenn, ready to be completed.

"Oh, Steven, you..." I said.

"Welcome, Syndicate." Steven interrupted. "I was hoping I would get to see you make it here one day." He walked towards me. "Tell me... What have you seen on your journey with your Pokemon?" He stopped. We were ten feet from each other, on a crystalline, circular platform with next to no guardrails. "What have you felt, meeting so many other trainers out there? Traveling this rich land of Hoenn... Has it awoken something inside you?"

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I want you to come at me with all you've learned. That is all you need to do. LET IT BEGIN!" This was it. He sent out Skarmory, and I sent out Sapphire.

"Use Thunderbolt!" over half. Skarmory used Steel Wing, doing far from enough. It fell, doing barely anything significant. Aggron was next.

"Hydro Pump! Go!" Almost. Aggron used Stone Edge, almost killing Sapphire.

"Now, hit it with Aeroblast!" Steven used Full Restore, so I did the same, and used Hydro Pump again. It doesn't miss, fortunately, and that Aggron is gone. Cradily was next, so I switched.

"Aurora! Use Fly!" Almost enough, but the Confuse Ray was not liked. He used a Full Restore on Cradily, but I was able to get past the confusion and use Outrage. Claydol was next, but so was a Surf by Andromeda. Or, MEGA Andromeda. The thing stood no chance. It fell, but it was able to use a Light Screen, halving Special Attacks by me for a couple turns. Armaldo was coming, so I switch back to Aurora to use Fly. Almost enough. I had just one left, Metagross.

"Kira! I need you to do this. Use Perish Song as he comes up."

"Anything for VICTORY!" Metagross was fast, but Kira was faster. Actually, Metagross was pretty slow. I got the Perish Song up, but Kira was sent back to the underworld to chill with Giratina for a little bit. It will die in 3 turns. Some may die, but I will have won, no mater what. I sent out Andromeda to be resistive, spamming recover to regain health. It used giga impact, but not only Andromeda survive it, the thing wasted a precious turn. He had fallen.

"Congratulations to you!" Steven said. "Come, let's go to a place that few have entered: the Hall of Fame. Vatra was getting kind of bored, so I gave her a treat. Steven brought me to a machine that will permanently allow me to look at my current team, inducted in the hall of fame. I had won. I knew what I had to do now. I got my free ticket to the boat, but I felt oddly, unsatisfied. It was weird, being in such an odd situation, but then I realized why. I needed to pay my respects. I gave Mercedes a proper funeral with Blaise. I also knew that it wasn't over yet. I went back to Littleroot Town, and headed to the graveyard. I had picked flowers at whatever city part of Ever Grande city was. There, I laid them to rest at May's Grave.


	23. Zinnia

I guess it really did happen. I didn't expect it to, but it did. I went to stay with Steven Stone. To keep me updated, he brings me the newspaper every week, but that stopped when I read the headlines.

"Meteor changes trajectory! Thrown Towards Earth! Also, The recipe for McGarchomps Moomoo Milk has been stolen!"

I was feeling negative. McGarchomps lied to me! Oh, and the meteor. I told Steven I had to go, and headed to the Space Center in Mossdeep City. I also picked up that a strange Woman was going around, raiding the place. She even went through May's grave and stole her Mega Keystone. She was seen headed to Petalburg, so I took care of personal business first. There, I found Matt. He survived?

"That's funny, now hand it over!" He said the Wally at his house.

"I told you, I don't have it!"

"Don't play dumb! I already know you can use Mega Evolution!"

"Hey!" I yelled at him. "Use you're 'Mega Brain' to tell me how you survived." He threw a pill at me. Water breathing; good for 48 hours. Withdrawal effects include not facing danger correctly.

"Eh.. Meet me in Meteor Falls..." The poor sap. He left.

"Thank you so much, Syndicate."

"Why'd he want your keystone?"

"The truth is, I couldn't give it to him even if I wanted to. My Key Stone is gone."

"Let me guess, girl, black hair, brown cloak, red eyes?"

"I don't know what you're saying, but I don't like the sound of it. What in the world is going on? I'm going to protect my parents. You should protect yourself, too." As he left, an app on my Pokenav, which I rarely use because I'm so used to the Poketch, activated. I didn't even knew I had the Entry Call app, let alone knew what it was. It was a phone apparently.

"...'Lo? Hello?" The voice said. "Is that you, Syndicate?"

"Yes, but I'd like to know who you are."

"It's me, Steven. Have you been doing well?"

"I've been much better."

"If you were wondering, this is a communication mode that Devon is still currently developing. I thought I would only use it if I needed to contact you urgently..."

"Okay, who died?"

"There's no time. Meet me at the Devon Corporation in Rustboro." Oh, to chase the sleazeball or the friend? I can mess with Matt later, and Steven's a serious guy. Oh, well.

I found him in front of Devon Corps. "Syndicate..." Steven said. "I'm sorry about summoning you so suddenly, but it's well known how often my intuition turns out to be right. I never imagined we would be meeting again so soon!" He sighed. "This isn't something we should discuss in public. Let's continue this inside. After you." We went up to Mr. Stone's desk.

"Dad," Steven said. "Syndicate is here."

"Well, welcome, welcome, it's been quite a while... hasn't it?" Mr. Stone said.

"Yes, it has." I replied.

"I'm afraid I'm planning to start in on a rather long and quite heavy topic." Time to get the coffee, I guess. "3,000 years ago, there was a great war in a region far from here. The war was brought to an end by a weapon created by one man, and what energy source could power such a dreadful weapon? The life energy of Pokemon. There are surely many people who would call it reprehensible. but my grandfather said this... 'Couldn't we use the energy to improve the lives of people and Pokemon?', so he developed our greatest creation here at Devon: Infinity Energy. Thanks to it, Devon was able to become one of the top industries in Hoenn. You may be surprised the parts you recovered for us were in fact parts of a motor that would make it possible to power a submarine using Infinity Energy. It wasn't long before we began to expand our attempts to further human development. Next, we moved into exploring space. The rockets launched from the Mossdeep Space Center using our Infinity Energy... They are the true results of our dreams, passion, and technology, but never did we imagine they could end up as the best hope for saving our world." My eyelids stopped drooping. "My preamble has been quite long, but we arrive at last at the real issue. A huge asteroid, more than six miles in diameter, is currently on track to collide with our planet. We are devising countermeasures that would use our rockets, but... In order for these plans to succeed though, we need a Meteorite Shard."

"Like this one?" I pulled out the meteorite Archie gave to me.

"Shards. You'll find some in Granite Cave." I headed to Dewford to collect the stones, but I was greeted with a person instead.

"Hm, hm, hm. Well, seems like it's true. It really is just like the wall painting there." The girl on the news said.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Who are you?"

"I am Zinnia. Are you also interested in this old painting?"

"Quit changing the subject. Where are the Mega Keystones?"

"We'll just have a battle, then. You're ready, right?"

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Out came Tyrantrum, but so did Blew. Easy defeat. I didn't want to play easy on her. She sent Salamence, and I used Ice Beam. She sent out an Altaria, which met the same fate.

"That was niiiiiice! Full pints to you. Here!" She gave me the Meteor Shard. The meteorite in my backpack started to give off a faint glow. Zinnia left the cave. I decided to head to the Mossdeep Space Center. Steven said that he'd be there.

"Cozmo! You survived!" I said. The professor was alive, apparently.

"We can reunite later. I'll need the Meteorite Shard." Professor Cozmo had a red spot visible through both his shirt and lab coat. "So, here's the plan. We plan to use the Infinity Energy and life force of humans found in Key Stones." I gripped the area right below my neck. "We'll shoot the missile at the meteoroid, at a warp hole will be created. Then, we can put it somewhere else." Suddenly, Zinnia entered the room.

"Nice!" She said. The guard on the first floor came in.

"Excuse me!" The guard said. "Young Lady! You can't just let yourself in here!"

"Oh? Where's the harm in it? Don't be such a stick in the mud! ... Right?"

"Ugh..." The guard said. Cozmo finally notices here, and so does Steven.

"Who... are you?" Steven asked. "You're no sightseer..."

"She's Zinnia." I said. "She tried to stop me while getting a meteorite shard. I don't trust her."

"Oh I'm just you're average sightseer!" She looked around the room, and said that Cozmo's plan was a big mistake.

"Tell me, would you rather we sit here wringing our hands, waiting for that meteoroid to strike us?" Steven asked.

Zinnia laughed. "What's up with that? For a former champion, you're a pretty simple guy. How about you, Syndicate? Any better ideas?"

"We could just have something to block meteor, or we could destroy it. Neither are that difficult." I said.

"That's promising. Look, I'm not criticizing the way you guys are looking at this, but I want to be sure you've thought this through well and good."

"There are two flaws to his plan: the disaster of getting in the wrong hands, and the fact he doesn't know where it will appear."

"Heh." Zinnia left. Cozmo said he needed another, purer meteorite shard, found in Meteor Falls. I climbed as far as possible, and found Steven Stone and some old woman.

"Syndicate," Steven said. "We have the Shard."

"Great!" I said. "Let's head back."

"Hang on. The honorable lady you see before you is a descendant of the ancient Draconids."

"Huh?"

The old lady spoke. "One of those ancient folk tasked with passing down the knowledge of Mega Evolution, with the great lore of Lord Rayquaza, who was the beginning of all."

"I'm sorry, but did you say that Rayquaza was the beginning of all?"

"Yes."

"Don't you understand? Arceus created the universe, but there's no time for me to tell you how everything works. Continue."

"Destruction fell over Hoenn, and usually took the form of a meteoroid, which fell upon our land. Others, they were the Primal Reversions. Each time, Lord Rayquaza has saved us. The chosen Lorekeeper offered up a wish to the great one, and the Lord's body was suffused with a brilliant light and transformed. His power was more devastating than ever before, overcoming even the super ancients with all their primal power."

"A rainbow colored stone..." Steven muttered. "An invocation from the Lorekeeper, and a Rayquaza unlike any ever seen. It's Mega Evolution... So, who is this Lorekeeper?"

"The summoner of Rayquaza. The true lorekeeper right now is Zinnia." The woman spoke

"I hate her." I said. "I... I need to go." I headed to Rustboro to speak with Mr. Stone again.

I had reached the Devon building, but before I could enter, a sound was made.

"Awawawawa?!" The voice said. It came from inside. A scientist ran out the door and hit me, dragging me three feet.

"Ugh... One reason I can to Hoenn was to get away from annoying kids like Trent. What's provoked you anyway?" By the time I said "provoked", I was getting up and wiping dust off my shoulder.

"No time!" A Team Aqua grunt talked to him.

"Yo, geek! Oh? Oh, you." I found myself with the two people I had met at Petalburg Forest. I sent out Lucius, the Lucario. He's my substitute for Mercedes. Out came a Mightyena, but Lucius didn't care. He was ready. I chose him to be my Mega Evolution master, and used Close Combat. Out came a Golbat, but that had no chance either.

"Didn't you get the memo? Archie has resolved his plans." I asked. He had run off. Another grunt had come, but I dealt with him too. A third had come. This must've been serious. I had fought about... three grunts before it was all finished.

"Oh, thank you!" The scientist said. "Here, I'll give you another great ba- WAIT! Now's not the time for this! Team Aqua stole the control device for the Link Cable that our company had been devolping..." I had been anticipating this. "What shall I do? What would you do? WHAT SHALL I DO?"

"Here, you stay there. I'll take care of the situation." I said. I never did see that great ball.


	24. Apocalypse

I went to Mossdeep City, and found Matt giving a speech to Aqua Grunts. They were raiding the Space Center, and I couldn't let them. The Quintuplets had returned, and ready to fight me. They all sent out Mightyenas. I felt confident because Lucius knew Earthquake until every one of them had Intimidate, so I had to switch out. I figured Kira's Perish Song would help, until he was roared out and then, ironically, roared back in. Kira fell rather quickly, but she's already dead, so it was a matter of time. They all fell, and I could continue. I found Matt and one female Aqua grunt talking with Steven.

"Your timing is impeccable as always, Syndicate." Steven said.

"That's awfully debatable, but we don't have time for this." I said.

"What do you plan to use that device for? It is the last hope for humanity itself."

"Wait," Matt said. "What was that? Last hope?!" He thought for a moment, then laughed. "I ain't laughin' one bit. ...Punk."

"I recorded you laughing." I said, playing the tape. I always keep a tape recorder in my left pants pocket.

"This rocket will be even stronger than the weapon 3,000 years ago, right? Well, if I use this Key Stone I found at Meteor Falls, I can force the energy inside the rocket to explode. Who needs a meteoroid? I'm gonna bring an end to all things with my own power!"

"You idiot!" I yelled. "If you are anywhere NEAR Hoenn or Kalos, you WILL, I repeat, WILL be obliterated, leaving nothing behind."

"No, there's more to it! I will be the one who will complete Project AZOTH and take the world back to it's beginnings!"

"Beginning? There may not even be a WORLD to bring back to it's beginnings. With Dialga, you could restart time. but even then, the moment will all lead to the beginnings again!"

"No! You can't! Grahh!" And we battled. I fought with Steven against the Matt and his friend, but I didn't need him. Lucius knew what he was doing, but Matt also meant business. I'm sure that he was actually stupid enough to do this, but there wasn't much I could really do, besides finishing him. I wanted to take the device from Matt and THEN kill him, but then Zinnia just took the thing.

Zinnia tried to convince me that changing the positioning of the meteoroid was a bad idea, but I just couldn't trust her. Then, she tried to tell me a story that meant nothing, and crushed the device.

"You idiot!" I yelled.

"What kind of fool are you?!" Cozmo asked.

"I will rip that heart out of that sorry body of yours!" Matt yelled.

"Don't worry. I... we know what we're doing." Zinnia said.

"We?" Steven asked. "What are your intentions?"

"Oh, silly me!" Zinnia said. "I forgot the other thing I came for."

"What might that be?" I asked. She walked up to Matt, and took his Key Stone, and then she excused herself.

"All right, Matt." I said. "We'll go kill her, and THEN we'll fight to the death. I'm going after her." I headed to Aqua's base. She litterally said "base", and last time I checked, there was only one base in Hoenn. Searching deep enough into the base, I saw Zinnia confronting Archie and Shelly.

"All right! And the winner is Zinnia!" Zinnia said.

"Not for long, you little..." I hated her. I could barely contain it, but I saved my anger for when it mattered: confronting her. Zinnia then took Archie's Key Stone.

"You imbesile!" I yelled at Zinnia. "You need only one key stone. If you plan to take every single key stone out there, you will die trying to take mine! These are not yours!"

"Archie!" Shelly said. "Hang in there!"

"There now. I'd say this key stone is mine." Zinnia said.

"Fight me!" I yelled.

"Meet me at the Sky Pillar, all right?" and she left.

"Give it to him." Archie said.

"Really?" Shelly asked.

"Yeah. What's the use without a key stone?"

"Okay." She offered me the Sharpedonite, but I declined.

"You're getting your key stone back. I'll come back."

I left the building, headed to the Sky Pillar. There, I, of course, found Zinnia.

"You came back." Zinnia said.

"I did." I answered. She slowly clapped.

"Look here. The paintings that cover the walls of this tower... these are the history of humanity, of Pokemon, and of nature itself. They're tales passed down between Draconids, and I will pas that history and lore on to you." It's pretty much the story I've known for a long time. Groudon and Kyogre fight, all of the other legendaries can't be bothered, and only Rayquaza decides to stop them. The Sky Pillar was a gauntlet of floors. These floors don't mean anything in the long run, but at the top, that's where things got interesting.

"Welcome to Dragonhark Altar." Zinnia said. "You know what I am trying to do here by now, don't you?"

"You wish to summon Rayquaza." I said.

"That is my... our duty."

"Who is 'our'?"

"Us, silly!"

"I'm unsure about that."

"Oh, well. I think it's time I gave it a shot." She uttered a chant. "With jewel bright and borrowed might from the spirits of the departed, through sacred rite in thy great sight, my life as well I offer." All of the key stones she stole gave off a brilliant light. A roar. The world shooked. He was here. Zinnia tried to make Rayquaza Mega Evolve, but her Mega Anklet didn't react. How anti-climatic. She failed to stand, while the meteorite I had glowed. I was the one meant for Rayquaza all this time, apparently. Rayquaza ate the meteorite I had, and light shined from him. He was going a bit... crazy. I had to tame the dragon. He had appeared. I sent out Blew, and used Thunderbolt to do nice damage. It went for Extreme Speed, which didn't do much. This turn occured again, and I quite litterally, just flung an ultra ball and caught him.

(Author's note: I'm dead serious. I used two thunderbolts and ONE Ultra Ball. It wasn't edited like the Kyogre battle. I tried many times and just gave up and used the Master Ball.)

"Hello, Serpentine." I said.

"Is it... over?" Zinnia asked. "Well, congratulations, Syndicate."

"It's not over. There's something special about that meteoroid, and I looked closely at it. "Deoxys..."

"What?" I told her the whole willpower story.

"That's my main purpose, to kill Cyrus, take Deoxys's Chestpiece, and save things from humanity to existence itself."

"No, we have to destroy it!"

"It's the only way, Zinnia!" I was about to forgive her.

"No! We'll settle this the way we all should!" And we battled.

"The loser dies.." I said. She sent out this monstrosity called Goodra, and I sent out Serpentine.

"Dragon Dance, go!" I mega evolved him. it was a beautiful sight, seeing Mega Rayquaza. Goodra used Ice Beam, but it had already lost.

"Dragon Pulse!" Goodra lived with little. Serpentine was badly hurt, but easily beat Goodra. Tyrantrum came, but Andromeda used a great Surf. Crunch arrived, doing too much for my taste, so I sent out Chronus.

"Flash Cannon!" Defeated. Altaria, Flash cannon, dead. I switched to Aurora.

"Outrage!" Noivern, outrage, do the math. Salamence, the final one, arrived. I stayed in to heal Chronus and deal the desicive blow. I had to sacrifice Aurora if I wanted the plan to work.

"Grah... Use ROAR OF TIME!" And the Mega Salamence was finished, and with an unnesseccary critical hit.

"I can't let you destroy the Meteoroid..."

"I'll make you!" Zinnia yelled.

"No, you won't!" She got on top of me. I pushed her away, rolling her. I tried to get up, but she got me into a chokehold. I couldn't breate, but I could think; just barely. She left an opening for her legs. I sweeped them away, and she tumbled backwards. I pushed her off the Sky Pillar, but she pulled me with her.

"It will hit! It will it! Kill me, and we're all doomed!" Zinnia yelled. We were falling, the only force on us besides gravity was air resistance.

"I'll finish you all right!" I yelled. About 50 meters from the ground, while she was struggling to punch me, I was struggling to get a Pokeball that had a flying Pokemon. Aurora was the Pokeball I got. She had just enough strength to fly me back up. Zinnia grabbed Aurora's tail, but I threw a Premier Ball at her face. She fell unconscious, and hit the water. Whatever happened, she must have drowned.

I gasped. "You're no sister of mine..." I went over to see Aurora. "Are you... alive?"

Aurora coughed furiously. "I can't go on, Syndicate. I... I... Tell... Tell me... did I... die with..." Her eyelids started to flutter. "Honor...?"

"Yes... you did..."

"Thank... you..." She had died, and I cried, kneeling with my face on my arms, which were on her corpse.


	25. Confrontation

I rode on Serpentine and put on the Aqua suit. I looked at the meteor. Suddenly, an odd life form appeared. A triangle, if you will. Tentacles appeared behind it. There was Deoxys.

"Serpentine!" I yelled. "Aim for it's side!" Serpentine roared. Once I got close enough, I dismounted from Serpentine. Deoxys was damaged, but Serptentine lost a lot of energy destroying the meteor. It was gone, and Serpentine floated through space, aimlessly. It wasn't far at all, but trying to float my way through space to get Serpentine was a literal death sentence, because it gave Deoxys an opening. I got out my conveniently-placed dagger. Punching Deoxys, I did a bit of damage, but he has such a ridiculously thick head. If I didn't have the Aqua Suit, this would've been much worse. I got myself stuck in an endless battle against him. Eventually, we grabbed each others hands, trying to push the other away, disorienting them. Deoxys's arms split, slowly coming towards me. I let my left arm go to send out Lucius.

"Close Combat!" Lucius threw too many punches for Deoxys. Unconscious, I sent Lucius back out to protect him. I took the dagger, and cut Deoxys's chest orb in half, and took the remainder. Because Deoxys, the chest orb regrew, and I cut the other side. Combining the chest orb, I was able to get his chest orb while keeping him alive. I had to go to the Cave of Origin, for that was where ghosts roamed. I captured Deoxys and called him "Morpheus". I sent out Blew to find Serpentine and retrieve him. After everyone was safe, I headed to the Cave of Origin. Deeper, and deeper, and deeper I went. I smelt the wind, heard cinnamon buns. I felt blue, and saw confidence. Either my senses were going insane, or Azure was there, distorted. I hoped it was the ladder. Fortunately, it was. Azure was returning, and all of the million children or so don't have to suffer the inability to think for themselves anymore.

"Syndicate?" Azure asked. "You've done it, haven't you?" His form was returning.

"I couldn't leave you and everyone else alone..." I said.

"What of Deoxys?"

"Alive."

"Thank you." Finally in his true shape, he flew back to the Spear Pillar to solidify. I finished up my journey in Hoenn. I found Zinnia's keystones, with her body nowhere to be found. I started by returning Wally's. He hugged me. I returned Archie, and asked Shelly how she became immortal.

"It's immortality. My life would be a disaster if people knew these things and kept asking me." She said.

I finished by returning May's Keystone to her grave, and told Professor Birch everything.

"I can't stay. My people need me!" I said.

"All right, but promise me you'll visit." Birch said.

"Every six months, all right?"

He stared at me for a moment. "Oh, fine. Keep the Pokenav. It'll help you, one way or another." I thanked him, and said goodbye. I headed to Steven's house.

"You've recovered very fast. In fact, you should be fully recovered by the end of the month." He said.

"Thanks for everything." I told him.

I was ready to head to the Spear Pillar. There, I found Azure, but there was a shadowy figure accompanying him.

"Not so fast..." The voice said.

"Long time no see, eh, Cyrus?" I said.

"Time has barely passed for me. I've been here for a year and a half, but it's felt like five minutes. I can't let you get in my way again. I don't need Dialga, I don't need Palkia, I don't even need Arceus, but most of all, I don't need you."

"What do you plan to do?"

"To summon the legends of Giratina and Arceus. One will go to you, and the other is mine. Either way, you've lost." He held up two object in the air. The Grisceous Orb and the Azure Flute. He slammed the Grisceous Orb into the ground, and flung the Azure Flue my way. It played itself.

A brilliant flash of light appeared in front of me, clearing quickly enough for me to see the legend of Arceus, but there was a dark aura on the other side. Persisting, each part of Giratina was exposed one by one. First, the face. Then, the wings. Then, the legs. Finally, the torso. It had changed within himself. Giratina was in his origin form. A dark spirit approached me, ready to come to my aid. I waited for Kira's voice, but it was never heard. It was Darkrai, and he nodded his head at me.

"Come on, Phobiac, let's see how much of Cyrus we can take with us!" I said. Phobiac was the Darkrai.

"How unfair. Why can't you just play with the big kids?" A wild red aura appeared behind Cyrus, and out emerged a shadowy figure. "Yveltal! Aid me in my time of need!"

"Hrm." I threw a Zap Plate at Alpha, my name for Arceus. The wind was blowing harder than it even has before, and a lunar eclipse occurred, despite it being the afternoon twelve minutes ago.

"Go, Alpha!" I said.

"May Lucifer feast on your very soul." Cyrus sent out Giratina. "The winner of the fight doesn't have to put up with the loser's punishment."

"Which is...?" I asked.

"Your soul will be fed to Lucifer, who will feast on it back in his own world. No matter who dies, Lucifer will always win."

"That makes it all the better." I said. "Alpha! Use.."

"LUCIFER!" Cyrus yelled. "Overpower him with a Shadow Sneak!" It did next to nothing.

"Thunder wave!" Lucifer was paralyzed. I switched to Serpentine.

"I don't need Mega Evolution to deal with you!" Serpentine and Lucifer exchanged Dragon Claws, killing Serpentine instantly. "I've done enough to know that Blew will win this!" Out came a Shadow Sneak, doing more than a quarter, but Ice Beam brought Lucifer to next to nothing.

"Don't you get it?" Lucifer failed to another ice beam. "Even if Lucifer falls, he can still nibble at your soul in his world! Finish the job, Reaper." Out came a Yveltal, with a Heat wave just for Blew. It was a critical hit, and Blew was at a quarter health.

"Pain split!" Blew got health, and Reaper lost health. I got Blew to use Thunderbolt, but a Gliscor came out.

"Impressive, isn't it? Triogonial is a state-of-the-art Toxic eater." A quick Ice Beam solved that problem real quickly.

"That was disappointing, but Iceheart is different." As a Weavile came in, I sent out Alpha. Instead, out came the Reaper.

"Judgement!" I said.

"This is a world we share.." Alpha said. "Don't take it from people more deserving than yourselves!" Reaper fell.

"I know that your Arceus is electric..." Cyrus said. "Play with my Electrivire." It tried to use Earthquake, but I knew what he meant. I switched to the flying Sapphire to counter it.

"Sapphire! Switch with Morpheus!" I said. Electrivire used Ice Punch, and I went with Toxic, followed by an easily regrettable Thunder Punch. Electrivire switched to Iceheart, Night Slashing Morpheus to death.

"Sapphire! Go!" Iceheart used Ice Punch, which did almost half to Sapphire, but Sapphire knew Aeroblast, defeating Iceheart. I tried to use Extrasensory on Electrivire for the flinch, but it didn't happen. Damage and a death was dealt that day, but you can guess who got what, right? I switched to Alpha to stall off the Toxic. This left him with just one.

"Phoenixeous! Finish him!" Cyrus said, and out came Ho-oh.

"Phobiac! Dark Void and Dream Eater!" Phoenixious fell.

"Ha..." Cyrus said. He was losing his comprehension. "Reaper, Oblivion Wing..." Suddenly, Yveltal came back, and I was hit with a huge laser. Yveltal gave the energy back to Cyrus, and went back to death.

"I know, I know, I bent the rules, but think of it as a vague loophole. You're the one with least overall health, your soul is to be fed to Lucifer." He kicked me away.

"Oh.. you..." I couldn't become angry, I couldn't talk. I was losing myself, but I could see. Sight was the last I could hold on to, and I saw a purple spot.

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. suspense

.

I was feeling better, all of a sudden.

What..?

Is... Kira?

I saw Kira, and she had her hand impaling Cyrus.

"I won't live forever, but I want you to live longer than him." She said. "I've done it..." She had fallen into the shadows. I picked myself back up. Cyrus was on his knees. The whites in his eyes became all that were there. Not even the pupil became visible.

"I'm supposed to be the winner here... I'm the immortal... I won't, I refuse..." Cyrus spoke. "I..." He fell to the ground. I searched his coat, and found a key, which I took. I left his body there, for it won't come without a soul. I headed to the base and freed my old friends.

"If you hurry, you can save Maverick." Jendoa said.

"I will." I said. "Come, tell the others that it's time to pack up."

I had returned to Twinleaf Town, and Maverick was losing the will to live.

"Don't think like that..." My appearance made Maverick as estatic as she could be. "Just rest there, and you'll be fine."

I returned home and was quickly greeted by Cressa, Dawn, Professor Rowan and... CRASH! Trent...

"I guess you'll never get the hang of it..." I said.

"I did once!" Trent replied.

"Out of what?" He paused.

So, that's the story of how I learned why I should never return to Hoenn. Perhaps I'll make a few phone calls, but when would I find time to do that besides the 6 month period? I'll just enjoy my time until then, I guess.


End file.
